Cricket: Ryder among hopefuls for Twenty20 cut

Jesse Ryder. Photo / Kenny Rodger

A group of players racing to recover fitness and some unheralded names have been included in New Zealand's preliminary squad of 30 to prepare for the world Twenty20 championship.

The tournament starts on April 30 in the Caribbean and New Zealand's squad will be trimmed to 15 by the end of this month.

Among those for whom fingers are crossed is Jesse Ryder, who has had an operation to try to repair his long-term abdominal injury.

He is playing for his Naenae club this weekend and is expected to get in two Plunket Shield games for Wellington this month.

All-rounder Jacob Oram and fast-medium trio Kyle Mills, Ian Butler and Andy McKay are others named in the squad subject to their fitness.

There are rewards for strong form in the domestic HRV Cup in January for Central Districts' pair, young all-rounder Kieran Noema-Barnett and experienced international Mathew Sinclair, both of whom did their bit towards CD winning the title.

"We feel Mathew has improved his game with the Twenty20," selector and coach Mark Greatbatch said.

Canterbury pair, all-rounder Rob Nicol and middle-order batsman Shanan Stewart, get a look in, also based on their domestic form, as do Northern Districts' duo, left arm seamer Bradley Scott and Brent Arnel.

"It's a big squad and we're looking to cover all bases," Greatbatch added.

Greatbatch acknowledged that "about 22 or 23" are in with a good chance of making the final cut.

"We do feel we've got some good skill level, and good competitive players to compete at the cup."

New Zealand kick off the tournament against Sri Lanka on April 30.

Zimbabwe is the other team in their group.

NZ SQUAD

Brent Arnel, Shane Bond, Neil Broom, Ian Butler, Brendon Diamanti, James Franklin, Martin Guptill, Gareth Hopkins, Jamie How, Peter Ingram, Michael Mason, Brendon McCullum, Nathan McCullum, Peter McGlashan, Andy McKay, Kyle Mills, Rob Nicol, Kieran Noema-Barnett, Jacob Oram, Jeetan Patel, Aaron Redmond, Jesse Ryder, Bradley Scott, Mathew Sinclair, Tim Southee, Shanan Stewart, Scott Styris, Ross Taylor, Daryl Tuffey, Daniel Vettori.