By David Leggat
The ICC Cricket World Cup final at Lord’s will long remain a vivid memory of this cricket year, but BLACKCAPS coach Gary Stead is done reflecting on how the match played out.
He is already well into his planning for an action-packed second year in charge since taking over from Mike Hesson.
Certainly the summer ahead is one to whet the appetite of New Zealand’s cricket fans – perhaps, considering the quality of the opposition, it might rank among the most anticipated season in years.
First up there’s England coming to play five T20Is and two Tests; then there’s three Tests across the Tasman, including the first Test at the mecca that is the Melbourne Cricket Ground since Sir Richard Hadlee and Danny Morrison duelled with Australia’s last pair, Mike Whitney and Craig McDermott, in late 1987.
India come calling early in the New Year for five T20Is, three ODIs and Tests in Wellington and Christchurch, before the Australians round off the summer with three ODIs in Sydney (twice) and Hobart and three T20Is in New Zealand.
All up, that’s 26 games, seven Tests, six ODIs and 13 T20s, which reflects the importance of the shortest form ahead of the men's ICC T20 World Cup in Australia next October-November.
‘’Australia, India and England are all fantastic teams and magnificent players. That’s really exciting for our team and for our fans to be able to watch great international players,’’ former test batsman Stead said.
His priorities are clear.
Top of his list is the new ICC World Test Championship, where the Australian and Indian Tests have points on offer. England’s Tests are not part of the championship. New Zealand already have points on the board after beating Sri Lanka in Colombo in August.
The world T20 is next on Stead’s list. He estimates there will be about 25 T20 internationals between now and then in which to finalise his squad.
‘’There’ll be a lot more focus on that. It’s a key event for us and planning and preparing for what the 15 players will look like is a priority.’’
And although the 2023 World Cup is four years off, and memories of this year’s event remain sharp in the mind, Stead maintains some long term strategising will be done this summer.
His first year in charge began with a Test win over Pakistan by a nerve-rattling four runs in Abu Dhabi. It is New Zealand’s closest ever Test victory by runs, setting up a 2-1 series win. It has been ‘’a year of real emotions.
‘’The key things for me are around learning about players, how they operate. Everyone’s different, and we’re trying to get the best out of them.
‘’I certainly don’t profess to know all the answers but hopefully the questions I ask, or the challenges that get given from time to time, or the arm around them, helps them become better cricketers.’’
As for that World Cup final on July 14 – won by England after a super over and a ton of twists and turns, a white knuckle ride of emotions after which the teams still couldn’t be separated and needed a boundary countback to find the winner – Stead has moved on.
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‘’There was happiness to be in that situation and be part of what was an amazing game, one I’m not sure we’re going to see it again, and on that stage.
‘’There’s a sense of pride. The trouble is you can go through 600 balls and find probably 400 different ways of finding one more run.
‘’If you do that you won’t sleep.’’
Planning for the coming season is well under way with camps and internal games being played.
Stead is conscious of the need to work on a horses for courses selection policy.
‘’You can’t always have the same group of players for a number of reasons.
‘’Their skills don’t always match as well as others in some conditions. But the physical and mental toll of playing international cricket all year round is extremely demanding.
‘’When you throw in the Indian Premier League and other leagues around the world it becomes a real balancing act, trying to get a performance out of the players and still have a freshness to them in how they play.’’
The opening match for the BLACKCAPS is the first T20I against England on November 1 at Christchurch’s Hagley Oval. That ground bookends the summer, finishing with the third T20I against Australia on March 29.
