Ryder apologises for "pathetic'' behaviour

The Press

UPDATE: Black Cap Jesse Ryder has apologised to cricket fans but denied he has a drinking problem after disgracing himself in Christchurch.
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The cricketer's international career is hanging by a thread after revelations that he was out drinking the night before the final one-dayer against England.

He publicly apologised at a press conference called by his employer, NZ Cricket, in Christchurch this afternoon.

Ryder said he regretted the incidents that saw him go on drinking binges before and after the international against England in Christchurch, cut up his hand in a bar, and then abuse hospital staff.

"My behaviour was pathetic, and I will be apologising to them (hospital staff),'' Ryder said.

"I apologise to the public, and fans who have supported me in my time with the Black Caps, my family, NZ Cricket and team mates. I'm disappointed for letting them down.'' 

Asked whether he thought he had a problem with alcohol, Ryder said he did not.

"I don't think I have a problem,'' he told journalists.

It was revealed yesterday that Ryder was out on the town in Christchurch on both the night before and the night after Saturday's one-day match against England.

Ryder left the team's hotel on Friday night, drinking at Shooters bar in Cashel Street until 1.30am on Saturday -- 12 1/2 hours before the international.

The Press reported yesterday that Ryder injured himself, severing tendons in his right hand while smashing a window in a central city bar on Sunday morning.

Now it has been further revealed that Ryder drunkenly abused Christchurch Hospital emergency department staff and demanded preferential treatment after that incident.

Cricket New Zealand will force the 23-year-old to apologise and do charity work for Christchurch Hospital's Emergency Care Foundation as penance.

A clearly fed-up NZ Cricket manager Lindsay Crocker said Ryder had a great deal of ground to make up with the team and New Zealand Cricket.

"Until he can demonstrate he can work within the protocols we won't have him around," Crocker said.

"It's up to him but if he wants to continue to make these sorts of decisions and break our protocols we don't want him.

"It's a foolish thing for him to do."

Crocker said NZ Cricket would have to put in more social support around Ryder.

"We will continue to support him: first we want him to get his hand right and get right physically.

"Then we will put social support around him to manage these issues, even though we thought we had done that. It's very disappointing to learn the night before a game what he was up to -- I had no idea."

If New Zealand Cricket operated a three strikes and out policy, Ryder would be history on the basis of just those two nights.

First he went out drinking before the decider, then he smashed a bar window following a seven-hour drinking binge, and finally abused hospital staff trying to treat his injury.

A mother of three from Linwood, who was waiting in the ED with her injured partner, said she was appalled by the behaviour of the extremely drunk Ryder and an unidentified friend.

"He was plastered," said the woman, who did not want to be named.

"He was saying `Don't you know who I am', and effing and swearing at everybody.

"They (Ryder and his friend) kept saying `Don't you know who we are? We deserve priority treatment'."

The woman said Ryder kept taking off the dressing on his hand and dripping blood all over the seats and floor.

"Every time she (the nurse) tried to wrap it he would take it off and it would start dripping over everything again.

"The nurse came out with a bucket and said, `What should we clean up first, the blood or their mouths?"'

"They were unbelievable -- those poor nurses took so much swearing and abuse from them."

The woman said security was called to quieten the pair down.

However, it was the arrival of team-mate Jeetan Patel, who was called by cellphone, that finally calmed the situation.

"Patel was really nice. He made them shut up," she said.

Ryder, who remains in Christchurch but declined to speak to The Press, was operated on to repair the damaged tendons on Sunday and released from hospital yesterday.

Crocker said he was not aware of the extent of Ryder's poor behaviour until he was contacted by the hospital yesterday morning.

"I came in at the tail-end on Sunday and heard him being disrespectful and ticked him off straight away and he seemed OK after that," he said.

"But I didn't realise that behaviour had been going on since his arrival."

Crocker, who sits in on selection meetings, said Ryder had been a serious contender for a middle-order berth in the test team for the series against England after his fine performances in the one-day series.

Ryder is expected to be out of international cricket for at least three months. However, surgeon Howard Klein, who carried out the two-hour operation, said there should be no long-term damage.

"I have seen patients with much worse injuries make full recoveries," he said. "It very much depends on the motivation of the patient to do well with the rehab and get moving again, that is really important, but he seems pretty motivated."

 TIMELINE

August 2002: Ryder scores 181 for NZ Academy against its Australian counterpart.

December 2002: Ryder makes his first-class debut for Central Districts as an 18-year-old.

Mid 2004: Ryder transfers to Wellington after continued discipline problems at CD.

December 2004: Plays his first match for Wellington.

May 2007: Ryder criticises New Zealand selectors for not picking him and says he may pledge his allegiance to England. He signs on as Ireland's second overseas professional but fails to show for its third match.

Feb 9, 2008: Ryder makes his one-day debut for New Zealand against England, scoring 31.

Feb 24, 2008: Ryder smashes bar window and then abuses hospital staff.