The NZC has announced that Gary Stead has decided to step down as New Zealand white-ball head coach in a press release on April 08.
Stead became New Zealand’s head coach in 2018 after Mike Hesson left the job and was reappointed after his contract ended in 2023.
Under his guidance, New Zealand had a very successful run in white-ball cricket making it into three finals of the ICC tournaments – 2019 World Cup, 2021 T20 World Cup and 2025 Champions Trophy.
They have also won the first-ever World Test Championship (WTC) in 2021. He was also the coach when the Blackcaps secured a 3-0 against India which didn’t happen in 12 years.
Stead wants to take a break and has yet to make a decision he wants to continue coaching the red-ball (test) team.
However, he said he still has a few years of coaching left in him, he doesn’t want to handle all formats anymore.
“I’m looking forward to getting away from touring life for a while and having a think about my future,” said Stead in an NZC release.
“My focus has been on finishing the season strongly with a lesser experienced team. The past six to seven months has been particularly busy with relatively non-stop cricket action since September.
“I now want to evaluate my options but still feel I have coaching left in me, albeit not as Head Coach across all formats. The next month will give me the opportunity to discuss the situation more with my wife, family and others.
“I’ll be in a better position to know whether I want to reapply for the Test coaching position after this time of reflection,” Stead added.
Meanwhile NZC chief High-Performance Officer Bryan Stronach Praised Gary Stead for his time with the team.
“Gary’s results have been very impressive over a long period, and we’re very comfortable giving him some time to collect his thoughts and mull things over.
“At the moment, we don’t have any strong preference for either a split-coaching role or a sole appointment who covers all three formats, and we’re unlikely to be clearer on that until we see who’s putting their name forward.”
The advertisements for the coaching position will happen “within the next week or so,” said a New Zealand Cricket media release.
