You might say the ball is in Jesse Ryder's half of the pitch.
The hard-hitting left-hander was unavailable for comment yesterday but Otago Cricket Association chief executive Ross Dykes confirmed Ryder had been unhappy during the past month and it was unclear whether he would return to play for the province next summer.
"He has not made any firm commitment and neither have we made any firm commitment to him," Dykes said. "The way we have left it is once he gets into his English season and he decides that he wants to play cricket in New Zealand in the next summer, then we would like him to approach Otago first.
"That leaves it non-committal on both sides. He was not a hell of a happy chap toward the end and I think the best thing he can do is get off to England, clear his head, score some runs and then see where he wants his future to take him."
Ryder's prospects of playing in the World Cup effectively evaporated when he made himself unavailable for the NZ A tour of Dubai last year. Last week, he skipped round nine of the Plunket Shield to compete in a charity boxing event and was suspended for the final round following a breach of New Zealand Cricket's code of conduct during Otago's match against ND in Hamilton last month.