Stead weighs future as New Zealand advertise for split head coach roles

Gary Stead has stepped down as New Zealand men's white-ball coach and will decide in the coming weeks if he wishes to reapply to lead the Test team as New Zealand Cricket (NZC) considers having split head coaches for the men's program.

Stead, 53, has been New Zealand men's all-format coach since 2018 but his contract is set to expire in June of this year. The NZC issued a release on Tuesday where Stead confirmed he would step away from the white-ball role after leading New Zealand to the 2019 World Cup final, the 2021 T20 World Cup final and the 2024 Champions Trophy final.

The news comes after Rob Walter was linked to a role with New Zealand's team after he resigned as South Africa's white-ball coach.

Stead will take some time over the coming weeks to decide if he wishes to reapply for the Test coaching role as advertising for the roles will commence over the next week.

"I'm looking forward to getting away from touring life for a while and having a think about my future," Stead said. "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 has had great success with New Zealand's Test team leading them to the 2021 World Test Championship and the recent 3-0 series victory in India last year. He has managed his coaching duties across the three formats in recent years with the likes of his assistant Luke Ronchi taking charge for various white-ball assignments to give Stead a break.

New Zealand's chief high performance officer Bryan Stronach said Stead had earned the right to take his time with his decision and confirmed that the NZC were open to all possibilities as far as the head coaching role moving forward.

"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," 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 we're unlikely to be clearer on that until we see who's putting their name forward."