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MANCHESTER - Jesse Ryder remains touch and go to rejoin his New Zealand cricket teammates in England next month as team management insist he won't be rushed back.
The dynamic left-handed batsman is several days behind in his recovery from surgery on his right hand which he put through a window at a Christchurch bar in February when celebrating New Zealand's one-day series win over England in the early hours.
Team manager Lindsay Crocker was still hopeful Ryder could arrive in London with the rest of the one-day squad members on June 5 or 6, but a decision was at least another week away.
"It's still a pretty tight deadline before we'd have to make a call on it but we want to leave it as late as we can to give him the best possible chance," Crocker said.
"If he is behind it's just a few days here and there.
"We can leave it reasonably late to decide, so we'll just keep an eye on his progress at home.
"We may be in a position to make a call earlier if he's clearly not making it."
Peter Fulton, named as cover for Ryder in the one-day squad, is already in England as part of the test squad.
The initial diagnosis was that Ryder would be out of cricket for three months after undergoing surgery on the exterior tendon on his index finger, a flap reconstruction and a skin graft on his right hand on February 24.
He stepped up his recovery this week, picking up a bat and hitting soft balls under the eye of New Zealand Cricket medical adviser Warren Frost.
The next stage is catching drills with tennis balls.
Ryder is seen by the national selectors as a key part of New Zealand's cricketing future, in tests and one-day internationals despite his well-publicised social habits.
He received his first New Zealand contract last month, and is understood to be ranked around mid-table on the list of 20 contracted players with an annual retainer of around $120,000.
His debut series was a successful one against the touring England side in February, scoring 196 runs at an average of 49 and strike rate of 91.
"We saw that he adds a huge extra dimension to the side," Crocker said.
"There was every chance he could have made a difference to our test match lineup, batting lower down.
"He was an exciting addition to the side and we want to see him back because if his playing ability but we don't want to compromise that by bringing him back too early."
Captain Daniel Vettori said he'd heard similar reports that Ryder's recovery was progressing slowly and was adamant he wouldn't be rushed to make the England tour with a busy year ahead.
"He quickly became an important part of our side with his performances in the one-dayers back home," Vettori said.
"We'll monitor him as closely as we can but we don't want to push him. There's a Champions Trophy coming up which is pretty important to us and a lot of cricket following that, so if he's not right he won't tour."
- NZPA
