Ryder stays with team after family tragedy

Jesse Ryder has declined the opportunity to return home from the ICC World Twenty20 following the death of his cousin in a car accident. Ryder was given the option of heading back to New Zealand to grieve but instead chose to stay with the team, whose campaign begins against Scotland on Saturday.

Lucan Ryder was one of four people killed in a head-on crash in King Country on Saturday, along with his wife and daughter, while their two other children were injured. "[Team management] just talked to him about it," Ryder's manager Aaron Klee told the Dominion Post. "They discussed it and he's decided that he wants to stay with the team."

Ryder is also suffering a groin niggle and could require a hernia operation when he arrives home following the ICC World Twenty20. "He's been carrying that [groin] injury since the start of the IPL, that's why he wasn't playing many games," Klee said. "It's likely that he'll need to get it cleaned up."

He has taken part in New Zealand's warm-up games this week but scored a duck against Australia and 2 against India. New Zealand have pencilled Ryder in to open with Brendon McCullum during the tournament.