Wasn’t it good to hear that Jesse Ryder is back in the runs. Actually, after the events of March when he was in an induced coma and fighting for his life, it was nice to hear that he is back playing cricket again. A century on his Otago debut is the perfect way to make his latest fresh start. Good luck to him.
Also making a successful comeback, albeit slightly less dramatically, was Steve Tikolo. At the age of 42, he has been recalled by Kenya and in the first of seven Twenty20s against Sri Lanka ‘A’ he top scored with 44 and took two wickets as his side were well beaten. Does that performance tell us more about his undoubted class or the depths to which Kenya have sunk?
Mohnish Mishra is another one on the comeback trail after a ban for spot-fixing. He made 97 in the Ranji Trophy as he tries to rebuild his career. Memo to Mohammad Amir and others – it can be done.
But what are the greatest sporting comebacks of all time? Forget Istanbul 2005 or even the Americas Cup earlier this year. I mean sportspeople who like Ryder, have all but come back from the dead.
Niki Lauda springs to mind immediately. Not only was he given the last rites having been pulled from his burning Ferrari at the Nurburgring in 1976, but just six weeks later he was back in the car. Six weeks! Not only that, but he still nearly won the world title, and then went on to do so in 1977 and 1984.
Staying with motorsport, Alex Zanardi’s horror crash in Germany in 2001 looked to have ended his sporting career. Not so. Although he never raced at the top level again, you can only admire the determination and commitment he showed following the crash to become a Paralympian, and win a gold medal at the London Olympics. No legs, no worries.
Sir Matt Busby was twice given the last rites after the Munich air crash that destroyed his Manchester United team in 1958. 10 years later, he led his side to European glory and wrote himself into Old Trafford folklore.
Perhaps Ryder may not reach the glorious heights that Lauda and Busby did after their near-death experiences. But then, just being back on the pitch would be enough of a triumph for most of us, wouldn’t it?
After all, surely the greatest comeback of them all belongs to Fabrice Muamba. Despite the fact that he was forced to retire on medical advice, he was effectively dead for 78 minutes in March 2012 having suffered a cardiac arrest at White Hart Lane.