New Zealand Cricket on Tuesday backed their Black Caps coach Gary Stead and his decision to take a break after critics started accusing him of leaving his team in between the series. New Zealand players have been in the news for long for their poor show. They recently faced a 3-0 Test series defeat in Australia and a 5-0 Twenty20 whitewash against India on their own backyard.
After the poor performance, Stead’s decision to take a break in the mid-series raised many questions as New Zealand will play against India in a three-match ODI series and then the Tests as well. Moreover, their regular captain Kane Williamson has been out of the first two games with a shoulder injury which has made things worse than before.
However, former captain Jeremy Coney said Stead should be there to help the side win the series instead of taking a holiday.
“Can you see Steve Hansen leaving the All Blacks after they are one-nil down against the (British and Irish) Lions, and taking a week off before the second Test?” he told Radio Sport.
“This is the job and this is the main part of the season. It’s ridiculous this is happening at this crunch time.”
On the other hand, New Zealand Herald sports columnist Chris Rattue has referred to the incident as “unfathomable”.
“The brilliant Indians are world sport rock stars, a team to measure your mettle against,” he wrote.
“Surely any coach would move heaven and earth to be part of an ODI series against Virat Kohli’s men?”
Although New Zealand Cricket (NZC) chief executive David White has backed the coach’s decision, citing that it had been planned six months ago.
“Of any sport in New Zealand, cricket has the most demands for time,”he said to the reporters.
“These guys are away from home for a long time and we must manage their workload.”
“ODIs are not as relevant as T20s this year, especially having the (T20) World Cup and the Test Championship running simultaneously,” he shared before the opening ODI match in Hamilton.
“So I think in the ODIs you’ll see more new guys getting chances and really having a go at expressing themselves at this level.”
However, New Zealand registered a convincing win over India in the first ODI on the back of Ross Taylor’s brilliant century and a stable partnership with Tom Latham, the stand-in captain.
