Ryder lending ear to Wright stuff

Jesse Ryder, New Zealand's number one Test batsman in ICC charts, has attributed his red-hot form to inputs from John Wright, the former opening batsman and coach of India.

"Andy Moles has been a great support for me, just lets me play my game. John Wright is another one that's been helping with my batting, he's always in my ear, 'Play straight, play straight' every ball and that's what I've been trying to focus on while I've been batting. It's been working for me," said Ryder.

Ryder's magnificent 201 in Napier, on the back of his equally controlled century in Hamilton, has catapulted his world ranking to 30 after just eight Tests.

If Ryder hits another century at the Basin Reserve in the third Test against India starting on Friday, he will become the first Kiwi to reach the milestone in three successive Tests.

"It's been good to be able to sit back and just play a couple of Test innings and not get carried away with trying to score runs too quickly," Ryder said.

"I hadn't thought about that [record] till now but hopefully, all going well, it's something that'll be able to happen for me," he was quoted as saying by Dominion Post.

Averaging 64 in Test cricket, Ryder on Wednesday inked a long-term sponsorship deal with Gray Nicolls to add to his lucrative IPL contract.

Ryder was unaware that he had leapfrogged Ross Taylor (32) and Brendon McCullum (34) in the ICC batsmen rankings, but was more forthcoming when describing his emotions upon becoming New Zealand's latest member of the 200-run club. 

"I don't really have words to describe it. I sort of jumped up with joy but to get out the next ball was very disappointing. I just wanted to keep going and get as many as I can you don't really get many opportunities in test cricket once you get to 200. I just wanted to go on and break Martin Crowe's record (of 299)."