Race for Black Caps coach heats up as Gary Stead signs off a successful seven-year career

Thursday, 5 June 2025

Coach Gary Stead and captain Kane Williamson with the ICC mace after winning the World Test Championship in 2021.

ANALYSIS: As a panel of four current or former Black Caps, plus New Zealand Cricket’s CEO, deliberate over the new national coach, a major question will be: do they want someone in Gary Stead’s image?

Stead’s nearly seven-year reign - highlighted by a World Test Championship in 2021, a mind-boggling 3-0 test series sweep in India last year and three world white ball finals but no titles - ends on June 30.

The 53-year-old who played five tests for New Zealand still hoped to continue in charge of the test team but that was scuppered when NZC decided not to split the coaching roles for the first time. It was the right call and, despite Stead’s noteworthy achievements as the Black Caps’ longest-serving coach, it’s time for a new face at the helm.

Former South African white ball coach Rob Walter, two former Black Caps bowling coaches Shane Bond and Shane Jurgensen, and current assistant Luke Ronchi made up the shortlist after interviews, with an announcement expected within a week.

A panel of CEO Scott Weenink, board members Dion Nash and Roger Twose and current senior men Tom Latham and Daryl Mitchell have a tough decision to make from a strong shortlist.

Do they play it safe and go with Walter, highly regarded and strongly linked with the job for months, with a CV including head coach of Otago and Central Districts, or Bond, the former Black Caps fast bowler and people’s choice - albeit with minimal head coaching experience outside T20?

The word ‘coach’ in a cricketing sense is largely a misnomer for someone who is effectively the team’s CEO. The hands-on coaching or technical work is largely done by the assistants, or each player’s personal coach or mentor.

Rob Walter has head coaching experience with Central Stags and Otago Volts (file photo).

A loose job description for Black Caps head coach would require the following: a strategic vision for the team, create a blueprint for their style of play, be an astute man manager and selector alongside Sam Wells, and build a strong culture.

Walter - who didn’t play at the top level and began as a strength and conditioning coach in South Africa - was well established in the Kiwi system after coaching the Volts and Stags and also overseeing a New Zealand A tour of India. He was announced as South Africa’s white ball coach in January 2023, and stepped down after this year’s Champions Trophy.

If bookmakers were framing a market for the new coach, Walter would be close to odds-on.

Bond, though, will have given the panel food for thought in his interview. A champion fast bowler who literally broke his back for his country, the former policeman has universal respect, a sharp cricket brain and demands high standards.

Shane Bond, left, and Matt Henry before a day’s play in a test at the Basin Reserve.

His head coaching experience is largely with T20 franchises in Australia and South Africa, but he did take the helm with New Zealand A and was a highly respected bowling coach under Mike Hesson. England also summoned him as a bowling consultant for an Ashes tour.

Some of the current crop of Black Caps will have grown up idolising Bond, and the currency of being a world class former international is strong in cricket circles with Stephen Fleming, Brendon McCullum and Daniel Vettori having progressed to bigger things offshore.

Walter would be the safe - dare we say Steady - option while Bond represents more of a risk, albeit one that could be what this young crop needs as the team rebuilds without Tim Southee, Trent Boult and Neil Wagner. Managing the culture amid the comings and goings of franchise T20 players and those on casual contracts like Kane Williamson and Devon Conway, will be another huge part of the job which Bond would be well versed with.

Stead can depart with his head held high, the WTC his crowning moment and away test series wins over Pakistan and India bookending his stint. It’s an all-consuming role requiring many months on the road, and Stead came to the same conclusion as Hesson that any longer coaching all three formats was unsustainable.

Black Caps’ record under coach Gary Stead (August 2018-current)

Tests

Played 52, won 27, lost 19, drawn 6

Current world ranking: 5

Highlights

* 2018: Beat Pakistan 2-1 in the United Arab Emirates

* 2021: World Test Championship final (beat India by 8 wickets)

* 2024: Beat India 3-0 for NZ’s first series win in India

ODIs

Played 97, won 56, lost 35, tied 1, no result 5

Current world ranking: 3

Highlights

* 2019: World Cup final (lost to England on boundary countback)

* 2023: World Cup semifinal (lost to India by 70 runs)

* 2025: Champions Trophy final (lost to India by 4 wickets)

T20Is

Played 119, won 64, lost 46, tied 5, no result 4

Current world ranking: 4

Highlights

* 2021: T20 World Cup final (lost to Australia by 8 wickets)

* 2022: T20 World Cup semifinal (lost to Pakistan by 7 wickets)