Troubled batsman Jesse Ryder's chequered past came back to haunt him Monday when New Zealand selectors left him out of a preliminary 30-man World Cup squad. The 30-year-old is regarded as one of the Black Caps' few match-winners but his career has been littered with alcohol-fuelled incidents and chief selector Bruce Edgar said New Zealand were not prepared to gamble on him for the tournament.
He said the final straw was when Ryder was handed a chance to break back into the national team by participating in a New Zealand A tour to Dubai last month but withdrew at the last minute citing personal reasons. "When he pulled out he left us with no real information about him and as a result we didn't have enough conviction to warrant his selection," Edgar told Fairfax Media. "On balance we weighed it all up and thought we needed to see more. We never got to see enough and as a result we cut him from the 30."
The squad features all the players currently facing Pakistan on tour in the United Arab Emirates, including spinner Daniel Vettori, who may make next year's showcase tournament his international swansong. It will be cut to 15 on January 8 as New Zealand look to set a new benchmark in the February-March tournament they are co-hosting with Australia.
The Black Caps have reached the World Cup semi-finals six times and are desperate to shed the tag of perennial also-rans and make it to the final.
Squad: Corey Anderson (Northern Knights), Hamish Bennett (Canterbury), Trent Boult (Northern Knights), Doug Bracewell (Central Stags), Neil Broom (Canterbury), Dean Brownlie (Northern Knights), Colin de Grandhomme (Auckland Aces), Anton Devcich (Northern Knights), Grant Elliott (Wellington Firebirds), Andrew Ellis (Canterbury), James Franklin (Wellington Firebirds), Martin Guptill (Auckland Aces), Matt Henry (Canterbury), Roneel Hira (Canterbury), Tom Latham (Canterbury), Mitchell McClenaghan (Auckland Aces), Brendon McCullum (Otago Volts), Nathan McCullum (Otago Volts), Kyle Mills (Auckland Aces), Adam Milne (Central Stags), Colin Munro (Auckland Aces), James Neesham (Otago Volts), Rob Nicol (Auckland Aces), Luke Ronchi (Wellington Firebirds), Hamish Rutherford (Otago Volts), Tim Southee (Northern Knights), Ross Taylor (Central Stags), Daniel Vettori (Northern Knights), BJ Watling (Northern Knights), Kane Williamson (Northern Knights).
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