KEY POINTS:
"I've been waiting for this chance all my life."
You cannot help but ponder the scope of Jesse Ryder's statement.
He's talking about the upcoming test series in Australia but, although he's not given to bouts of profundity, he could be talking about life itself.
In such a short, occasionally brilliant, often troubled career, Ryder has been offered all sorts of chances that would not have been be offered to less obviously talented individuals. But after sticking his hand through a toilet louvre at an ungodly hour of a Christchurch morning he was given the sort of chance that comes around only once in a lifetime _ a `last' chance.
It's early days, but Ryder appears to be grabbing it.
The 22-year-old will travel to Australia tomorrow with 12 team-mates, some of whom he let down so badly in Christchurch. However, they have all been impressed with the authenticity of his contrition; they admire his determination to improve himself; and they respect his audacious talent.
Winning that trust back will mean far more to Ryder than the public or media's perception of him. Just as the insidious side of peer pressure led him down dark and destructive pathways, the right kind of peer pressure has led him back to the light.
Over the next month in Australia, we'll see just how far he has come and it will not only be measured in runs and wickets.
Bangladesh was just about the perfect re-entry zone _ low-key cricket in an environment where you are not encouraged to leave your hotel let alone sample the limited nightlife. There is no entourage of mates and well-wishers, no family, just team.
In Australia the opposite applies. Every block has a bar, he will be recognised more than he will care to be and his father, a reminder of his past life, lives in Brisbane, the venue for the first test. For a guy still finding his feet at this level, it will take the concept of `test' cricket to a new level, examining not only his skills but his resolve.
Since the life-changing incident Jacob Oram has taken it upon himself to help guide Ryder through the minefield and insiders say he has had a massive influence.
Since Oram's back injury has ruled him out of the tour, that onus falls on the level-headed Kyle Mills, though watching Ryder at the team gathering in Auckland last week, it is obvious he is growing more comfortable in the environment.
"Yeah, they're a pretty good bunch of boys and easy to get involved with," Ryder says.
More importantly they have taken his watershed admission this year that he had a problem with alcohol at face value and have provided support. "They've been really good with it."
The team environment within this New Zealand side hasn't always had the best press in recent years but the salvation of Ryder's career should speak volumes for the leadership of Daniel Vettori.
"That's the important thing about bringing the new guys along, to let them know they're important cogs, and you could probably say that about three or four guys who are relatively inexperienced," Vettori said.
"You get to know them and hopefully make them better cricketers and better [people] and Jesse's probably the shining example of that at the moment, the way he's fitted back into the side and performed.
"Trying to push these guys to perform to the best of their ability is probably the most important thing, and in a way everything else is secondary, but you still want the total package on and off the field as well."
As for on the field, Ryder was making all the right noises. He has done well in Australian conditions on `A' tours and can't wait to bat in those conditions again, but he's also looking ahead to this series in anticipation for more endearing reasons.
"They're most of my favourite players. Guys like Ricky Ponting and that. I love watching him bat so I can't wait to play against him," Ryder says.
He might find they don't reciprocate the same warm feelings when he walks to the crease at the Gabba and Adelaide Oval, but he doesn't care.
Asked who he most wanted to test himself against and his answer was instantaneous.
"Definitely Brett Lee. I think you've always got to be pretty confident against any bowling attack but these guys are pretty good; they've got good pace but I'm not too sure about their spinners, I haven't heard to much about their spin attack."
If he's been tuning into telly this week he would have found that they don't have much of one, even allowing for Jason Knezja's freakish debut, which might make a pleasant change after the spin-dominated tests in Bangladesh. With his classically compact technique and fondness for playing late off the back foot, he should find the pace suits him.
And, if he doesn't succeed as he would like _ after all, they're still the No 1 team in the world _ he should at least take comfort in the fact he has given himself every chance to do well.
Ryder's is a compelling narrative: bad boy to cult hero to bad boy and back again in the space of a year. It is not the sort of cycle that can sustain itself indefinitely and Ryder woke up to that at about the same time he woke up with his arm in bandages.
But the world needs redemption songs and Ryder might be in the midst of writing one of the great ones.
It's like he's been waiting for this last chance all his life.
