Coach Gary Stead to juggle Andhra job with NZ Cricket high performance director role

Stuff reported that Stead will be tasked with supporting player and coach development, as well as high performance programmes, and that will take up for an average of three days a week, and he will work with both Black Caps, White Ferns and juniors.

Cricket chief high performance officer Daryl Gibson was quoted by Stuff as saying, “Stead’s desire to give back to the game in this country speaks volumes about his character.”

“His role, which is a commitment of three days a week on average over the year, will see him work across much of the high-performance network, allowing our national and domestic coaches, players and staff to tap into his expertise and IP,’’ Gibson told Stuff.

“Gary is also able to work outside of NZC, such as his recent part-time appointment to the Indian domestic side Andhra for their upcoming four-day competition, an experience which will allow him to further grow his knowledge and experience.”

Stead, worked on interim coaching at Otago Cricket over the winter pre-season, and was also involved in a New Zealand under-19 camp this month.

“New Zealand cricket’s very much been at my heart for the past 30 odd years and to be able to keep contributing to the game I love is really special. I’m still passionate about coaching and trying to help people learn and improve. If I can pass on some of my skills and experiences to the wider cricket network and in turn help the Black Caps and White Ferns win on the world stage – than that would be really satisfying. I’m also appreciative of the opportunity to work outside of NZC to broaden my skills and experiences and hopefully I can bring what I learn back into our cricket environment,” he told Stuff.

A first class cricketer since 1992, formerly 20 years old, Stead was born to former Canterbury player David and is nephew of Test player Janice. He played over 100 first-class and List A games for Canterbury, many as captain, and featured in five tests for the Black Caps.

In his previous capacities, Stead was NZ coach development manager (2004-09), before becoming an assisted coach at the NZ Cricket Academy (2005-06), White Ferns head coach (2009-12), and Canterbury head coach and director of cricket (2012-18), before he was appointed to the Black Caps in 2018.

The 2019 final that England won on boundary count is memorable, remembered more for the travesty for New Zealand. That was 4 years after they made finals against Australia, abd also semis in 2023. But Stead’s teams were always entertaining.

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