Cricket: Ryder still not fit enough to play tests

A few days ago, if you listened to the whispers, you might have got the idea that Jesse Ryder was a chance for a dramatic return to test cricket against Australia this month.

It seemed that after successful abdominal wall surgery, the burly Wellington lefthander, who played a game for his Naenae club last weekend, was rapidly closing in on a return to provide the panacea for New Zealand's batting worries.

New Zealand have issues with their batting going into the two tests, so maybe ...

"I can assure you he won't be playing in a test match," New Zealand team physiotherapist Kate Stalker told the Herald this week. "This level of cricket is more than a couple of steps ahead. Provincial cricket is like fourth gear in a car; international cricket is sixth gear. It's too hard [for Ryder at the moment]."

Ryder had surgery after suffering the injury during the Champions Trophy in South Africa in September.

Other treatments failed to cure the problem, but Stalker is confident the surgery has done the trick, in medical terms anyway. What lies ahead is the 25-year-old regaining an acceptable level of fitness.

When NZ Cricket officials found out Ryder had not only batted but bowled 10 successive overs for Naenae, it's fair to say you could have heard the splutterings from HQ in Christchurch.

Captain Dan Vettori was clearly surprised; Stalker was diplomatic. Her issue was not with him damaging himself again, but that he had gone outside the prescribed fitness regime.

"My concern is not that he's going to reinjure his adductor or anything like that," she said. "He needs to build up his fitness. I don't want him bowling because he's not fit enough to bowl. I don't want him tearing a calf muscle or pulling a hammy or ripping his shoulder because he's not conditioned to do that at the moment. He's like a cricketer who's had six months off during the winter and is now doing his pre-season training."

Ryder was New Zealand's batsman of last summer, hitting a maiden hundred, then a double hundred in consecutive tests against India, bumping his test average to 49.88 to go with his 35.38 average in 212 ODIs.

The plan is to have him playing the final two Plunket Shield games for Wellington this month. But first he must pass fitness tests.

New Zealand have the world Twenty20 championship in May in the Caribbean and a tri-series against Sri Lanka and India in June-July. Stalker said the shorter games, while frenetic, were less stressful on the body than five-day internationals.

"That's perfect for a buildup back into full cricket for him. There's no point starting him in a test match. It makes no sense whatsoever."