WELLINGTON: New Zealand head coach Gary Stead will no longer coach the One-day International and T20 teams but may re-apply for the Test role, he said on Tuesday.

Head coach since 2018, Stead’s contract finishes in June. The 53-year-old, who has been in charge of all three formats since taking over from Mike Hesson, said he would take a month to consider his options.

“I’m looking forward to getting away from touring life for a while and having a think about my future,” Stead, arguably New Zealand’s most successful coach, said in a New Zealand Cricket statement, pointing to a hectic calendar in the last six months.

“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.

“I’ll be in a better position to know whether I want to reapply for the Test coaching position after this time of reflection,” he added.

New Zealand wrapped up their home summer over the weekend by completing a 3-0 series sweep of Pakistan with victory in the final ODI in Mount Maunganui.

NZC said it would give Stead time to consider his future but would start advertising for a new head coach from next week.

“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,” NZC high performance boss Bryan Stronach said.

“At the moment we haven’t any strong preference for either a split-coaching role or a sole appointment who covers all three formats, and were unlikely to be clearer on that until we see who’s putting their name forward.”

Stead steered the Black Caps to the inaugural World Test Championship title in 2021 and to an unprecedented 3-0 Test series sweep of India on the subcontinent last year.

He was unable to end the team’s long wait for a major white-ball trophy, though, overseeing defeats in the 2019 World Cup final in England and the 2021 T20 World Cup decider in the United Arab Emirates.

New Zealand missed out on a second Champions Trophy title last month, losing to India in the ODI tournament’s final in Dubai.

Published in Dawn, April 9th, 2025