Jesse Ryder struggling with concussion issues, desperate for NZ return
FILE PHOTO: Jesse Ryder is all set to make a comeback into the domestic season
New Zealand cricketer Jesse Ryder, who is still lagging behind with “concussion issues” is desperate to get back to domestic cricket and soon to the international platform for the all-blacks.
The 28-year-old Kiwi is all set to play for Otago in this year’s domestic season which will see him reunite with former Wellington coach Vaughn Johnson, who shaped his career during the cricketer’s early days in the island nation’s capital.
Otago Cricket chief executive Ross Dykes considers the big left-hander’s decision to play for Otago, under the watchful eye of Johnson as Ryder’s first step in getting back to playing for the black caps.
“Well I think one of his prime motivations is to get back in the New Zealand side and we’ll support that one hundred per cent,” Dykes told ONE News.
Though Ryder is geared up to play in the upcoming domestic season, his manager Aaron Klee claims that the cricketer is still having some confrontations with health issues.
“It’s tracking really well, not 100 per cent there yet,” Klee said.
“Just a few lingering concussion issues, but nothing that will be of any problem.”
Ryder who was assaulted outside a bar in Christchurch or March 27, has had his fair share of controversies during his chequered international career, but Dykes believes everything will improve for the better once he unites with the Otago Volts.
“We’ve got a structure in place that hopefully looks after all our players. I think he’ll fit nicely into that, I think it be foolish to try and do anything special I don’t think its necessary,” he said.
Ryder has worked tirelessly by running and doing a lot of fitness work and has successfully got back into much better shape than he was at the end of last season before he was brutally assaulted.
The assault had put the batsman into medically induced coma after suffering a fractured skull and collapsed lung, which left many people, including his family and friends, devastated.
However, Klee now hopes that the aggressive top-order batsman can prove his mettle and prove his critics wrong, who claimed Ryder had been obligatorily forced out of Wellington and was compelled to play for the Volts.
Klee disapproved the claims saying, “There’s no animosity there at all. This is just the right thing we’ve decided to kick start his career.
“It’s frustrating, but it is what it is.
“He’s (Ryder) never done anything to anyone else, it’s always been stuff he’s tripped himself up on.”
The move to Otago was part of Ryder pushing himself: “It wasn’t easy for Jesse to make change” and was “quite a big move for him.”