Gary Stead Reappointed As New Zealand Men's Head Coach Till Mid-2025

Gary Stead will continue as New Zealand's head coach till mid-2025, with the upcoming ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 and ICC World Test Championship in focus, announced New Zealand Cricket (NZC) on Tuesday. "First appointed for a two-year term in late 2018, Stead had his contract renewed in 2020 until the end of the upcoming ICC Cricket World Cup in India, and will now stay on until the conclusion of the current World Test Championship cycle, in June 2025," said a statement from NZC.

The decision follows a long and thorough consultative process during which Stead, arguably New Zealand's most successful men's coach, received unanimous support for continuing in the role.

New Zealand Cricket's GM High-Performance Bryan Stronach said the case for retaining Stead was compelling.

"The support for Gary was overwhelmingly positive - from the players, the Blackcaps support staff, Major Association coaches and support staff, as well as the New Zealand Cricket Players Association and NZC High-Performance Unit staff," said Bryan.

"Gary's results have been very impressive and we are confident that he still has a lot to offer the team. Of course, a big part of this decision came down to whether Gary wanted to continue and he made it clear his appetite to take this team forward was as keen as ever," he added.

Bryan said a formal split-coaching model was considered for the role and rejected, although there remained flexibility for NZC to co-opt additional coaching staff if desired.

"A split-coaching role was discussed in depth but, with most of our leading Blackcaps playing across all three formats, and the culture of the group so strong and positive, we saw clear benefits in supporting the status quo. Of all the different potential