New Delhi
Gary Stead, the New Zealand head coach, has pointed towards his team’s last years three-Test series loss to England resulting in them missing a chance of defending their World Test Championship (WTC) title.
New Zealand, then led by talismanic batter Kane Williamson, had won the inaugural WTC title after defeating India by eight wickets in the final at Southampton from June 18-23, 2021.
But in 2022, they were beaten 3-0 by Brendon McCullum’s England team playing an attacking brand of cricket in June which played a massive role in them being unable to reach the WTC 2023 final to be played between India and Australia at The Oval in London from June 7.
We didn’t get the same momentum that we had in other formats and whilst we finished strongly, there were probably some other results overseas that we hoped to do better in and in the three Test matches versus England, we lost all of them and we were probably in positions to win all three at certain periods of the game. That’s certainly a series that stands out, Stead told SENZ Mornings.
As a result, New Zealand finished sixth in the 2021-23 cycle of the WTC, ending the cycle with 2-0 series victory over Sri Lanka at home. That victory was the only series win against New Zealand’s name in the cycle.
As of now, Stead is excited for the next phase of the WTC to begin.
