KEY POINTS:
MANCHESTER - New Zealand's cricket team suffered another blow today when it was confirmed dynamic opening batsman Jesse Ryder would miss the one-day series against England.
Coach John Bracewell said Ryder had lost the race to be fit for the five-match one-day series starting on June 15 due to a longer-than-expected recovery from hand surgery in February.
He will be replaced in the one-day squad by Peter Fulton, who is already in England as part of the test squad.
"He feels it probably more with catching than anything else, in particular reverse cup where it seems to go straight through to the nerve, so he finds that increasingly uncomfortable," Bracewell said.
"We've decided to ease back on him and bring him back through the emerging players programme, and looking towards the Champions Trophy (in Pakistan in September), introduce him through some lower key cricket and get him more cricket fit."
Ryder, 23, made a big impression in his debut one-day series against the touring England side in February, scoring 196 runs at an average of 49 and strike rate of 91.
But he ended that series controversially when he put his right hand through a window at a Christchurch bar in the early hours of the morning, requiring surgery on the exterior tendon on his index finger, a flap reconstruction and a skin graft.
His recovery stepped up last week to picking up a bat and hitting soft balls under the eye of New Zealand Cricket medical adviser Warren Frost, and catching tennis balls.
He was still experiencing jarring in his top hand when hitting off the back foot, Bracewell said.
The coach admitted New Zealand's chances in the one-day series had taken a hit with Ryder's absence.
"He entertained extremely well but we've got to continue to create depth. It's another opportunity for somebody else - we know that Jesse can play and we've just got to be patient with that.
"It may put this particular series under a bit more pressure by not having one of your best players there, but it increases your depth later on down the track."
- NZPA
