Rehabilitation of Ryder, Part XV

Right. So Jesse Ryder sent down three deliveries in the warm-up game, picked up a calf strain, and is now recuperating in a bid to be ready for the Australia tour.

Skipper Ross Taylor is talking about Jesse having to give up bowling in order to be able to remain on the park. The way things are going, and with the no-runners rule now implemented in international cricket, you have to wonder next if Ryder will give up running between the wickets and become a boundary-hitter only.

This might seem like a cheap shot, given this is an injury we're talking about, not a drunken brawl. But the fact remains Ryder is still too unfit for the international game, and needs to do far more to make it through full tours. What makes this frustrating is he could potentially be one of NZ's best ever batsmen - nobody else boasts a test average of 45 in the current side. Instead, it's the occasional excellent series like the one in India last year, followed by cameo appearances in between drinks and injury.

The only way out for NZ is to find a new batsman capable of holding down a test spot. Dean Brownlie makes his test debut today and must hit the ground running. Daniel Flynn has supposedly tightened up his game after being dropped from the side two years ago, and I like to think there's a potentially good test player in him. If either of them were to succeed this season, not only would it provide competition and force Ryder to get his act together, but also allow NZC to stop anxiously waiting and rolling out the red carpet for someone who misses more games than he plays.