Cricket: Ryder in for long wait on sidelines

An injury setback means Jesse Ryder won't face Bangladesh and Australia when they tour. Photo / Getty Images

Write Jesse Ryder off for the forthcoming tours of New Zealand by Bangladesh and Australia.

And while there are no guarantees, fingers are crossed that the gifted Wellington lefthander will be ready in time for the Twenty20 world championship in the Caribbean in May.

Ryder, New Zealand's best batsman last summer, has had a setback in his fight to regain full fitness from an adductor strain suffered during the Champions Trophy in South Africa in September.

His only time at the crease since then was a few minutes for a Wellington team against England under-19 on January 7 in which he had a runner.

Ryder had a recurrence of the injury during sprint training, but it is more of a delay to his comeback than a case of being back at square one.

New Zealand team physiotherapist Kate Stalker met Ryder in Christchurch yesterday, with other NZC medical staff, and confirmed his return to the national side is on hold while he recuperates.

In Stalker's mind, the end game is having a fully fit and firing Ryder for the World Cup in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in 13 months' time.

No amount of game time has been specified for Ryder to complete before his return to the New Zealand side, but Stalker is optimistic he can be ready in time for the Twenty20 world championship.

"He has some abdominal pain again. He hasn't reinjured it to the same extent he had in the past, but he's certainly tweaked it," she said.

Before the Caribbean trip, Ryder is contracted to the Royal Bangalore Challengers in the Indian Premier League, which starts in mid-March. That looks a non-starter at this point.

Ryder, who averages an impressive 49.88 from his 11 tests and 35.38 in 21 ODIs, is heading for a stint in Christchurch, working at NZC's high performance unit with former test lefthander and high performance boss John Wright.

The 25-year-old's problems date back to last year's IPL, when he first suffered the injury in the pelvic region.

Then came the injury at the Champions Trophy, and Stalker said part of the problem was that operating on the affected area was not an option at this point.

NZC is adopting a conservative approach, and that means time. Operating carries no guarantee of success because of the specific nature of Ryder's injury.

"Biomechanical faults take a long time to sort out. It's not an overnight fix," Stalker said.

And that's why NZC has not put a specific time on Ryder's return.

Stalker is firm that the days of players returning too soon from serious injury are over. She believes that in the past players had returned to action before they were fully fit, partly because New Zealand's player pool of international quality cricketers is relatively shallow.

"What I'm trying to do is make sure everyone is 100 per cent rehabilitated before they return so in the long run we actually manage to get them for longer rather than repeatedly breaking down with the same issues."

Stalker said Ryder was frustrated by the latest problem and acknowledged there would be public disappointment at the length of his layoff, but posed a key question.

"Is it more important to have him playing against Bangladesh or playing in the World Cup? ... My goal is the World Cup.

"Anything else we can have players ready for, like the world Twenty20, that's fantastic, but our focus is the World Cup and I want the New Zealand selectors to be able to choose from every player we have to make that squad."

As Ryder's career is still in its early days, "it's really important for its longevity that we sort this out now".