KEY POINTS:
Jesse Ryder's rehabilitation, in both senses, is complete with his selection in the New Zealand squad to tour Bangladesh next month.
The beefy Wellington lefthander has had his right hand repaired after shoving it through a toilet window in the early hours of a February morning in Christchurch,
got back in the middle during the Emerging Players' tour of Australia in July and will likely make his test debut in Bangladesh.
Coach John Bracewell confirmed yesterday that if Ryder is chosen for the first test at Chittagong he is likely to bat at No 3 or 4 as New Zealand look to shore up a porous batting lineup which turned in some shockers in England in May.
"We are pretty pleased with how he got through his rehab work with his hand and the progress he made in terms of his cricket fitness on the Emerging Players tour," Bracewell said. "This is an ideal opportunity to reintroduce and reintegrate him back into the squad."
Ryder and Grant Elliott are the newcomers to the test squad from that which toured England, replacing Peter Fulton _ who has been among the runs in New Zealand A's games in Australia this week en route to India _ and James Marshall.
Bracewell said it had been a relatively straightforward selection, given that there had been no real opportunity for players to state their case, or trip themselves up since England.
The postponement of the Champions Trophy _ which was to have been played in Pakistan this month and is now rescheduled for next October _ was good news for Bracewell, in terms of players.
It meant a decent reconditioning window opened up for some players, and Bracewell cited exciting young allrounder Tim Southee, who has been on the go since the junior World Cup in February, as a prime case in point.
Bracewell acknowledged that if Southee had not had a chance to do some gym work and build up hisphysique it was a fair chance he would have suffered wear and tear midway through the forthcoming home international season.
"In terms of the cricket coming up I was pleased to take the opportunity to recondition some players, and out of season, not in season. A number of guys needed time off."
Aaron Redmond gets a second chance to show whether he can cut it as an international opener after an ordinary time in England. Gareth Hopkins will travel as the backup wicketkeeper to Brendon McCullum. Bracewell said he is necessary as there is no part timer to fill in.
And there was good news for Chris Martin, who returns to the ODI side, having been ditched for the trip to England.
He took that demotion hard, got a contract with Warwickshire, aimed at working on getting wickets early and bowling at the death in one-day cricket.
"He's in pretty good form and he's looked directly at the things he needed to address," Bracewell said, adding that as Martin is a one-skill cricketer _ he can't bat for toffee and is average in the field _ means "what he does, he has to do very well". New Zealand leave on September 30.