Gary Stead poised to end speculation about his Black Caps coaching future
Tuesday, 8 April 2025
Gary Stead’s seven-year reign as Black Caps head coach may not yet have come to a full stop.
Stead’s contract expires in June, but it’s understood he may end speculation regarding his future by announcing his plans on Tuesday.
Rob Walter has been touted as a likely replacement if Stead wasn’t going to seek to continue after recently resigning from his job as head coach of South Africa’s white-ball sides two years into a four-year contract. Walter, who previously coached Otago and Central Districts, has remained based in New Zealand with his wife and children.
But if New Zealand Cricket and the major protagonists have similar ideas on the employment of a split coaching role, Stead may still be seen as the best person to continue to re-shape the Black Caps test outfit.
The 53-year-old was first appointed to in 2018, with two two-year extensions following as he oversaw the team’s inaugural World Test Championship title in 2021.
Current Black Caps batting/assistant coach Luke Ronchi, former NZ bowling/assistant coach Shane Jurgensen, and Canterbury coach and former Black Caps opener Peter Fulton are other names along with Walter to have been linked with the job in some form.
The next international outing for the Black Caps - who finished the 2024/25 season on Saturday by defeating Pakistan in Mt Maunganui to sweep their ODI series 3-0 - is in Zimbabwe in July, where they will play a T20I tri-series also involving South Africa, and two tests against the hosts.
Black Caps captain for the just-completed series, Michael Bracewell, said the players hadn’t been given any indication from Stead over his intentions.
“No. We're all waiting with bated breath to see what's going to happen there, but yeah, it'll be interesting.
“He's had a great time with us so far, so we'll see where that ends up,” Bracewell said.
NZ Cricket is again likely to consider whether the head coach job for the national men’s team should be split, with separate people in charge of the test team and the ODI/T20I sides, as has been done in recent years with various national teams.
It decided when re-appointing Stead in 2023 that two coaches weren’t required, but since then, the Black Caps have shifted to separate captains for the test and white-ball teams and it’s believed NZC, under chief executive Scott Weenink - who was appointed in August 2023 following the departure of David White - may strongly consider the option this time.
Next year’s major ICC event is the T20 World Cup, to be hosted in India and Sri Lanka in February and March.
New Zealand’s test schedule over the next year is not an arduous one - they will play two tests in Zimbabwe in August, and a three-match series at home versus the West Indies in December, before T20Is become the priority until a test in Ireland in May, followed by three versus England.
However, the Black Caps will play a three-test series in England in June 2026, India will visit in November next year for two tests, five ODIs and five T20Is, and that’s followed by a four-test series in Australia in December 2026 and January 2027.
In recent seasons, Stead has handed over head coaching duties to his assistants for lesser white-ball series to ensure his workload wasn’t overly excessive.
Alongside the WTC triumph, Stead’s head coaching achievements include taking New Zealand to the 2019 ODI World Cup final - in which they were unlucky to lose to hosts England in an unforgettable match - the 2021 T20 World Cup final and this year’s Champions Trophy final, while last year he oversaw a stunning 3-0 test series upset of India in India.
Walter took over as South Africa's ODI and T20I coach in 2023, and guided them to the T20 World Cup final last year, and into the semifinals of the recent Champions Trophy in Pakistan, where they were beaten by the Black Caps.