Public backlash to brief break shocks Stead
It was a five-day break that shocked a cricketing nation but Gary Stead says the reaction to it left him more surprised than most.
The Black Caps coach is back at work, refreshed and boasting slightly thicker skin following the stunning fallout to him handing over the reins to bowling coach Shane Jurgensen for the threematch ODI series against India.
Presuming everybody takes New Zealand Cricket (NZC) at its word, Stead’s break was a public relations disaster, not the coach looking to hide under a rock after eight straight losses.
‘‘I was really surprised,’’ Stead said after naming his 13-man test squad for the two-match test series against India that begins at the
Basin Reserve on Friday.
Commentator Jeremy Coney ripped in and then told Stead to stay away following the Black Caps’ victory in the opening match as some in the media compared the ‘‘pre-planned’’ break – that came hot on the heels of a 5-0 whitewash in the T20 series against India – to Australian PM Scott Morrison’s Hawaii holiday as his country was gripped by bushfires in December.
In his first media appearance since the break, Stead has told Stuff the timing was ‘‘awkward’’ but he maintains it was the right thing to do despite skipper Kane Williamson also missing the first two games with a shoulder injury and the five straight T20 losses coming on the back of a 3-0 plundering for the Black Caps test side against Australia.
Stead laughed off any suggestion Coney’s – or any other – comments made for a more stressful break but conceded they ‘‘were distractions that didn’t need to be there’’.
‘‘I guess everyone is entitled to their opinion, I mean what Jeremy Coney says about me doesn’t necessarily have relevance to the way we go about things,’’ Stead said.
But as shocked as Stead was, it appears NZC now understands the shambolic nature of the announcement that came on the eve of the first ODI in Hamilton. The crime wasn’t the break, it was when Black Caps fans were told about it, as Stead confirmed he had known the break was coming for several months.
‘‘I’m sure that’s something that we’ll review afterwards but I mean it was an awkward time but still I maintain what New Zealand Cricket are trying to do here is the right thing by their people and I certainly still support the breaks that are on place for our staff,’’ Stead told Stuff.
He backed up NZC’s chief executive David White – who made an impassioned defence of the break – that missing the one-day series was about avoiding burnout and looking after staff but nothing to do with jumping off a ship that was taking on significant water.
‘‘I know New Zealand Cricket are doing what we think is right for us as people first and foremost,’’ Stead said.
‘‘We have to move on and we have to look ahead to the India test series now.’’
He was pleased with the way the players went about their business under Jurgensen and no doubt enjoyed the fact he would head into a two-match test series against India with a squad that has regained a good chunk of its confidence.