Jesse Ryder's injury-enforced absence from the New Zealand cricket team will extend beyond the pending home series against Bangladesh and Australia.
The gifted 25-year-old from Wellington has suffered a recurrence of the groin strain that has seen him sidelined for most of this summer and his New Zealand return won't happen until at least the Twenty20 world championships in the Caribbean in May.
New Zealand team physiotherapist Kate Stalker said Ryder had reinjured himself during sprint training recently, leaving him with no chance of being fit to face Bangladesh in their short tour starting on February 3, nor Australia, who begin their tour on February 26.
"He has some abdominal pain again. He hasn't reinjured it to the same extent he had in the past, but he's certainly tweaked it," Stalker told the New Zealand Herald.
"Biomechanical faults take a long time to sort out. It's not an overnight fix." Ryder has played just one game since the Champions Trophy tournament in South Africa in September, when he suffered the adductor strain. The sole hitout was a short innings for Wellington B against England under-19 in which he used a runner two weeks ago.
It remains to be seen whether Ryder can fulfil his Indian Premier League commitments for his Royal Bangalore Challengers team beginning in March.
Left-hander Ryder has an average of 49.9 in 11 tests and 35.4 in 21 one-day internationals.
