Test a true homecoming for New Zealand coach

Just metres from where he hit boundaries in Christchurch club cricket, Gary Stead will coach the Black Caps for the first time in his home city.

Stead has been in the job for only four months, but will experience an early highlight when he peers across Hagley Oval during the winner-takesall second test against Sri Lanka, starting today.

A proud Canterbury man, who regularly captained his province during a successful period in the 1990s and early 2000s and was a batting mainstay for the red-and-blacks, Stead might take a minute to reflect on his journey to the top job in New Zealand Cricket.

Stead was a vital cog in a dominant Riccarton club side in his playing days in Christchurch, who were based at South Hagley Park, just a cricket ball’s throw from the grass bank at the redeveloped Hagley Oval.

‘‘It’s special to come back here. I must admit I drove in [on Monday] and I thought, ‘this is great to come home again and feel like home for me’. We’re only 100 metres away from where I played a lot of my cricket. It is kind of cool.’’

Not one for the limelight, Stead doesn’t want this match to be about his first time in charge of the Black Caps in his hometown, but said it was a humbling moment.

He will have a solid contingent of family, friends, and no doubt former team-mates scattered around the venue for the test with noone prouder than wife Rachel, daughter Libby and