Ryder a step closer to New Zealand return

Cricket365
November 15, 2013

New Zealand selectors have included Jessie Ryder in a warm-up match against the West Indies later this month, giving him a chance to press his case for an international recall.

The troubled batsman is on the comeback trail after suffering a serious assault in Christchurch in March and has set himself the target of breaking back into the Black Caps by early next year.

Selection manager Bruce Edgar said including Ryder in a New Zealand XI to play a three-day warm-up against a West Indies XI in Lincoln from November 27 would allow the batsman to showcase his wares.

"It's important that Jesse is back playing at this level," he said.

"It will be great to see Jesse back in a New Zealand team environment but it's simply another opportunity for him to show that he can perform consistently."

Ryder's return after the attack outside a Christchurch bar was delayed when he was suspended for six months after testing positive for a banned substance contained in weight loss pills.

The 29-year-old played his first game in seven months for Otago in a provincial championship match in late October, belting 117 off 164 balls.

The left-hander is a prodigious batting talent, averaging 40.93 from 33 Test innings, but his career has been blighted by disciplinary lapses and off-field problems as well as fitness issues.

He has been in self-imposed exile from international cricket since early 2012 when he said he needed to sort out personal issues.

But he announced recently that his time away had rekindled his love for the game and wanted to reclaim his place in the New Zealand team for the West Indies tour, which runs until mid-January 2014.

Failing that, he will target the tour by India in late January-February.