Ryder racing toward fitness ahead of World T20 championship

NAPIER - Recuperating New Zealand batsman Jesse Ryder, who has had an operation to repair his long-term abdominal injury, is keen to prove his fitness after being included in the Black Caps’ preliminary squad of 30 for the World Twenty20 championship.

Ryder’s manager, Aaron Klee, said the 25-year-old had bounced back quicker than expected from the surgery reinforcing his abdominal wall, an area which has caused him trouble since last September when he was injured at the Champions Trophy in South Africa.

He turned out for his Wellington club Naenae Old Boys against Karori last Saturday, scoring 11 with the bat and then conceding 10 runs off 11 overs of medium pace.

“He’s a week ahead of his plans, he was feeling good about his body and where he was at, so he had a little bowl and it was perfectly fine,” Stuff.co.nz quoted Klee, as saying.

“There was absolutely no pain or problems with and he felt 100 percent the next morning. It’s been a remarkable turnaround since he had the surgery a few weeks ago,” he added.

Klee said Ryder had been training hard all the way through summer, with his only real restriction on doing sprinting.

“He’s basically been batting since December, so it’s not like he’s been sitting around doing nothing for six months,” Klee said.

“He took it to another level (on Saturday) which probably surprised a few people, but there was no issue with it,” he added.

The World Twenty20 championship starts on April 30 in West Indies and New Zealand’s squad will be trimmed to 15 by the end of this month. (ANI)