New Zealand drop struggling Ryder from World Cup preliminary 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, Hamish Bennett, Trent Boult, Doug Bracewell, Neil Broom, Dean Brownlie, Colin de Grandhomme, Anton Devcich, Grant Elliott, Andrew Ellis, James Franklin, Martin Guptill, Matt Henry, Roneel Hira, Tom Latham, Mitchell McClenaghan, Brendon McCullum, Nathan McCullum, Kyle Mills, Adam Milne, Colin Munro, James Neesham, Rob Nicol, Luke Ronchi, Hamish Rutherford, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor, Daniel Vettori, BJ Watling and Kane Williamson. (AFP)