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Jesse Ryder - Source: Photosport -
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Back in the day Jesse Ryder was irremovable at Napier Boys High School. The burly left-hander, who attended the famous New Zealand College from 1998-2002, owned the play-yard.
Lunch-time after lunch-time, Ryder would bat and bat and bat. So impossible to get out, he would be at the crease for days on end.
It wasn't fair on his school chums: They were completely out of their depth and while Ryder remains modest about these school-yard accounts he certainly doesn't deny them.
"Ha, school, yeah, that sounds about right, but it was so long ago," Ryder told tvnz.co.nz with a smirk.
But little has changed. Ryder lives and breathes cricket. When he isn't playing, he admits that he is thinking about it and that it why his current injury, a groin strain sustained in the Champions Trophy in South Africa, is a source of frustration.
That injury all cumulated into his latest tirade. His whirlwind innings of 74 from 58 balls against Sri Lanka was vintage Ryder but his soft dismissal resulted in him firstly smashing a chair with his bat on the way to the pavilion and then dishing team manager Dave Curry with a verbal spray that even Hone Harawira would be impressed with.
Consequently Ryder was fined 15% of his match fee and New Zealand Cricket later fined him for the altercation with Curry.
This, of course, wasn't the first time the 25-year-old had vented his frustrations in an unprofessional manner upon his dismissal.
His battered bat got similar treatment when he was dismissed for 202 against India in Napier last summer and his other misdemeanours have been well document.
Ryder, though, is a work in progress and he acknowledges that he needs to curb his passion.
"In a way that's who I am," Ryder told tvnz.co.nz.
"I'm the person that is in and didn't do my job and I see it like that.
"I get emotional getting out and throwing my wicket away like that, but yeah, I will try and contain myself a bit more (in the future).
"So I won't do it so publicly and I do need to chill out a little bit more with that sort of stuff and I'm working on it.
"But I'm emotional person when it's comes to sport. I don't like failing and I like doing well for my country."
So, Ryder doesn't like getting out and that's the way it should be.
This attitude has already yielded him an average of 49.88 from 11 Tests, 35.58 from 21 ODIs and he was also named the first class batsman of the year at the annual NZC awards.
And with numbers like that, his old school chums at Napier Boys
High surely couldn't care less about the odd emotional
outburst.
The summer of cricket is almost upon us and once again, tvnz.co.nz
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As well as the usual reports and scorecards from matches both home
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This week, the comprehensive coverage will be augmented
by regular updates and expert analysis from sideline eye Max Bania
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detailing the days key moments, major players and what he had for
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