Stead wary of threat from

A new coach and a new captain will make England more of a threat, says Gary Stead.

The Black Caps coach, dealing with the possible major blow of a serious injury for key middleorder bat Henry Nicholls ahead of the upcoming three-test series, said he’s not expecting the hosts to be the team in disarray they’ve been over the past 12months.

New Zealand’s opponents will have a new test leader in allrounder Ben Stokes, while it remains unknown if England will have appointed a new coach by the time the first test begins at Lord’s on June 2.

However, Stead rejected any notion that England – winless in their last nine test matches – will be vulnerable next month.

‘‘Probably the opposite,’’ Stead said. ‘‘I see them being more of a threat, to be honest.

‘‘Whenever that happens, you usually see a bit of an immediate lift around the performance of the team who want to prove things, I guess, to the new leaders of the group.

‘‘I expect Ben Stokes will add a little bit of steel to their group and I think they’ll be a real challenge.’’

Stead’s main current concern will be the availability of Nicholls, who was due to have an MRI scan on his injured right calf yesterday, with results known today.

Should the experienced lefthander, who averages 40.38 from 46 tests, be ruled out of the initial part of the tour or all three tests, Daryl Mitchell looms as the logical batting replacement while Rachin Ravindra could be utilised as an allrounder with his left-arm spin.

Some of the New Zealand-based squad of 20 have suffered from Covid-19 in recent months, which has hindered the tour buildup.

There are five members of the Black Caps squad playing in the