Gary Stead to remain New Zealand head coach till mid-2025

Gary Stead will continue as New Zealand head coach until mid-2025, it was confirmed by the country's cricket board on Tuesday (July 11). Stead's current contract was to run until the end of the ODI World Cup in November this year. But the extension will now see the 51-year-old oversee the team across formats and in major assignments including the T20 World Cup of 2024, the Champions Trophy of 2025 as well as the entirety of the 2023-25 World Test Championship Cycle.

The decision to re-appoint Stead followed after lengthy discussions between him and New Zealand Cricket. There were also deliberations around whether NZC wanted to employ a format-specific split-coaching system but they were ultimately rejected.

"We started talking to Gary around firstly whether he wanted to continue in the role and keep going," NZC's GM High Performance Bryan Stronach said.

"And then went through a feedback process from management and players and support staff - how supportive they are around that and gathering all that feedback came back undeniably that people were really supportive of Gary continuing and then we followed through on that process.

"There was strong feedback around Gary continuing, but there was also feedback around making sure we keep having fresh voices and ideas coming into the environment.

"I suppose the split coaching is one way of doing that, but when we weighed it all up we thought we could continue the good stuff Gary has brought to the side and the organisation, but also get the fresh ideas and so forth through other means, than just the split coaching."

First appointed to the role in late 2018 following Mike Hesson's resignation, Stead oversaw a very successful period in New Zealand's cricket history. This included a run to the finals of both the ODI World Cup in 2019 as well as the T20 World Cup of 2021. Between the two, the Black Caps also clinched the inaugural World Test Championship (2019-21) mace by beating India in the final at Southampton.

Stead said he was excited about the challenges that lay ahead for his side and that his passion for the role remained as strong as when he first started. "I had talks with Bryan [Stronach] and [departing CEO] David [White] and New Zealand Cricket for a while now, just making sure they were clear on me being the right person and the feedback is nice to get back that there was support for me.

"I'm very humbled and privileged to do the role I do and for me it's a real privilege to want to be involved with a great set of human beings representing New Zealand," he said.

Meanwhile, Test captain Tim Southee led the players' voice and said they were pleased to see Stead continuing in the role. "The sheer amount of time players and support staff spend away from family and loved ones makes for a challenging environment. With so much cricket being played these days, being able to effectively manage people and their workloads is a huge part of the job.

"Gary's had great success leading us into finals in all three formats and, of course, that World Test Championship win. It's been great the way that he's come in and built on what was previously achieved."