New Zealand Cricket decided to retain Gary Stead till 2025

• New Zealand Cricket decided to retain Gary Stead till 2025.
• Stead has been in charge of the Black Caps since 2018.
• He will also have option of opting out of certain tour commitments.

New Zealand Cricket had initially planned to appoint separate coaches for different formats of cricket, but they have since changed their minds and decided to retain Gary Stead as the head coach of the national men’s team until the end of the 2025 ICC World Test Championship cycle.

Stead has been in charge of the Black Caps since 2018, and he has led them to some notable successes, including the inaugural World Test Championship title in 2021. NZC were impressed with Stead’s performance in all formats of the game, and they felt that he was the best person to lead the team into the future.

“With most of our leading Black Caps playing across all three formats, and the culture of the group so strong and positive, we saw clear benefits in supporting the status quo,” NZC’s high performance chief Bryan Stronach said in a statement announcing Stead’s contract extension.

In March, Gary Stead suggested to the New Zealand Cricket board that they should consider appointing a separate head coach for limited overs cricket. However, he changed his mind on Tuesday and said that such a division was probably not suitable for New Zealand.

“We’re not a big country … Our pool of players is a little bit smaller perhaps than other countries around the world,” he told reporters.

“It makes the split coaching model probably not quite as relevant as other countries.”

Instead, he will continue to be assisted by short-term consultant coaches for various trips who offer specialist skills or expertise of formats and circumstances from other countries.

Stephen Fleming, Shane Bond, Saqlain Mushtaq, and Thilan Samaraweera are recent appointments.

He will also have the option of opting out of certain tour commitments and having other personnel fill them.

“I was pretty open with New Zealand Cricket, and sort of explained that the idea of being away for eight or nine months on the road is unsustainable for anyone, players or staff,” he said.

“I’m certainly open to new coaches coming in. I don’t have to be the head guy, the front guy all the time.”

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