Former New Zealand all-rounder Jesse Daniel Ryder is celebrating his 40th birthday on August 6. Despite gaining a reputation for poor behaviour and injury proneness, Ryder managed to produce steady performances across all formats during his short career.
The Wellington cricketer made his international debut in the ODI format in 2008 in the home series against England. He managed to impress the management with his decent contribution in both the departments which helped him win the Player of the Match.
It didn’t take long for his ‘wild boy’ behaviour to come out of the shield. He put his hand through a glass window after a night of heavy drinking, and his Test debut was delayed by several months due to injury. Ryder played his first red-ball match in October 2008 against Bangladesh.
The left-handed batter started his Test career with half-centuries against Bangladesh and West Indies. But it was during the subsequent tour of India that he made huge strides. He slammed his maiden ODI century in a high-scoring encounter at Christchurch, helping the Black Caps to register a convincing win.
Ryder continued his good form in Test cricket as well, scoring his maiden Test century at Hamilton and bettering it with a double century in the next Test at Napier. In 18 Tests, Ryder has scored 1269 runs at an average of 40.94 with three centuries, one double century and six fifties.
Coming to limited-overs cricket, he played 48 ODIs and 22 T20Is, scoring 1362 and 457 runs respectively. The Kiwi opener has scored three centuries and six half-centuries in 50-over cricket. He has been an explosive batter alongside Brendon McCullum in the top order in both forms of the game.
Although Ryder didn’t announce his official retirement, he kept himself out of international cricket since 2012, citing injury and some other personal reasons. Notably, he entered the record book of fastest centuries (currently 9th) in ODI history when he smashed a ton off just 46 balls against West Indies in 2014.
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