Just three months after stepping down as New Zealand men’s head coach, Gary Stead has rejoined New Zealand Cricket (NZC) in a new role as high-performance coach. Stead, who is regarded as the most successful coach in New Zealand’s history, will now focus on player and coach development along with high-performance programmes.
Stead Excited About New Chapter
Stead expressed his enthusiasm about continuing to contribute to New Zealand cricket, a journey spanning over three decades.
“𝑵𝒆𝒘 𝒁𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒕’𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒚 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒂𝒔𝒕 30 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔. 𝑰’𝒎 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒑𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒄𝒐𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒗𝒆. 𝑰𝒇 𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒑𝒂𝒔𝒔 𝒐𝒏 𝒎𝒚 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒖𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑩𝑳𝑨𝑪𝑲𝑪𝑨𝑷𝑺 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑾𝑯𝑰𝑻𝑬 𝑭𝑬𝑹𝑵𝑺 𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒊𝒏 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒈𝒆, 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒔𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒔𝒇𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈,” 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅.
He also highlighted the value of opportunities outside NZC, including his current role as head coach of the Andhra men’s team in India and recent work with Otago Cricket and the New Zealand Under-19 camp.
NZC Welcomes Stead Back
Daryl Gibson, NZC’s chief high-performance officer, praised Stead’s return, noting both his expertise and dedication.
“𝑮𝒂𝒓𝒚’𝒔 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘𝒍𝒆𝒅𝒈𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒆, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒎𝒐𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒌𝒆𝒆𝒑 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒕𝒐 𝑵𝒆𝒘 𝒁𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒕 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒂𝒌𝒔 𝒗𝒐𝒍𝒖𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒓,” 𝑮𝒊𝒃𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅.
Stead’s part-time position, averaging three days a week, will allow him to collaborate across the national and domestic high-performance network while also gaining international coaching exposure, which he can feed back into NZ cricket.
During his tenure as head coach from 2018 to 2024, Stead oversaw historic achievements, including New Zealand’s triumph in the inaugural World Test Championship in 2021 and a stunning 3-0 Test series sweep against India in 2024.
His coaching career with NZC began much earlier, having served as a coach development manager (2004-2009), academy assistant coach, head coach of the New Zealand Women’s team, and later as Canterbury’s head coach before taking over the men’s national side.
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