Gary Stead announced on Tuesday that he will no longer serve as New Zealand's coach for Twenty20 and one-day international formats, and he is currently reflecting on his future involvement in test cricket.
Stead stated that he anticipates taking a month to make a final decision. The 53-year-old has been coaching New Zealand in all formats since 2018, when he succeeded Mike Hesson.
New Zealand Cricket confirmed that it will begin advertising for the coaching role next week, though it has not yet decided whether to appoint separate coaches for different formats.
Under Stead’s leadership, New Zealand reached the finals of the 2019 ICC World Cup, the 2022 T20 World Cup, and this year’s Champions Trophy, while also securing victory in the inaugural World Test Championship.
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“Gary’s results have been impressive over an extended period, and we’re comfortable giving him the time he needs to consider his next steps,” said Bryan Stronach, NZC's high-performance officer, in a statement.
“At this stage, we don’t have a strong preference between a split-coaching structure or one coach for all formats, and we won’t make a decision until we see who applies for the role.”
Recently, New Zealand completed a 4-1 win over Pakistan in a home T20 series and a 3-0 victory in the one-day international series, despite having many key players unavailable due to the Indian Premier League.
“I’m looking forward to stepping back from the touring life for a while and reflecting on my future,” Stead shared. “My focus has been on finishing the season strongly with a less experienced team.”
“The past six to seven months have been extremely busy, with almost continuous cricket since September. I now want to assess my options, though I still feel I have more to offer as a coach, but not as the head coach across all formats.”