Winning 3-0 in India was the greatest achievement: Gary Stead

New Zealand's most successful coach, Gary Stead, officially stepped down from the role in early June 2025, bringing an end to a remarkable seven-year stint. Stead, who took over from Mike Hesson in 2018, not just brought glory and titles, but also infused maturity in his players, which is his proudest achievement.
 
Under his stewardship, the Blackcaps reached the 2019 ODI World Cup final, which they lost to England on a contentious boundary count rule. Despite the pain of the near miss, Stead guided the side to their first ICC title in 21 years, when they defeated India in the inaugural World Test Championship (WTC).

It was followed by appearances in the 2021 T20 World Cup final, the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy final, and two semi-final finishes in the 2022 (T20) and 2023 (ODI) World Cups. The 53-year-old's journey also saw the Kiwis become the first-ever team to whitewash India in a Test series on their home soil. The former reflected on his time with the team and the numerous feats they achieved.

"I think any time you’re involved with international cricket it’s a great privilege, and I guess one of the things I’m most proud of is just seeing the team members grow in their time. And look, we’ve had some amazing achievements in the past few years. Obviously, winning the inaugural World Test Championship was something very special to the team. Making the World Cup finals and ICC event finals as well. Yes, we didn’t quite get over the line in those, but still to get there against some quality teams around the world has been fantastic," he told Arvind Krishnan as quoted by Cricblog.

"But probably the greatest achievement I think with this group was winning 3-0 in India. I think that’s probably the hardest thing to do when you consider things around the world and things you’re going to try and achieve, and for us to win all the three Tests will be something that’s probably right up there with the best achievements with this team in history," he added.

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Rob Walter announced New Zealand's coach across all formats

Earlier this year, Stead stepped away from the white-ball role and hinted that he would take time to consider his future with the Test side. However, New Zealand Cricket (NZC) recently appointed former South Africa coach Rob Walter as the new all-format head coach. Walter now takes on the responsibility of guiding the Blackcaps into the next WTC cycle and the upcoming ICC events through to the 2028 Olympics.