March 8, 2025 • 11 mins
No nerves from the Black Caps in the lead-up to the ICC Champions Trophy final against India in the UAE.
New Zealand is second only to India in winning ICC knockout matches over the past 14 years.
Black Caps coach Gary Stead joined Piney to discuss.
LISTEN ABOVE
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Weekend Sport Podcast with Jason Vine
from News Talk ZB.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
A night in Dubai from ten o'clock New Zealand time,
the black Caps take on India in the ICC Champions
Trophy Final. Black Caps coach Gary Stared is with us
out of Dubai. Gary, thanks for taking the time for
a chat. Let's start with personnel. What's the latest you
can tell us about the likely involvement or not of
Matt Henry.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (00:34):
Look, I mean Matt obviously landed on the shoulder and
was in a little bit of pain, so we're going
to give him every opportunity. He'll have a fitness test
tonight just to see how he's tracking and we'll make
a call after that whether he plays tomorrow or not.
So until we have that, he has that bowl this evening,
there's just a little bit of unknown around his readiness
(00:57):
or not.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Is it his bowling shoulder that is the problem.
Speaker 4 (01:01):
Yeah, it's his right right shoulder, so yeah, it's obviously
important to him.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
So yeah, it's.
Speaker 4 (01:08):
Not ideal, but unfortunately those things come with playing support
at times.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
So if he is ruled out of the final, is
it most likely, Gary, you'll go like for like and
select another SEMA.
Speaker 4 (01:21):
Yeah, I think the different options we have, it's either
that and we've got I guess two other seamas in
the squad and j Duffy and Nathan Smith, or if
we think the pitch will turn appreciatively, then we'd consider
another batsman as well.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
All Right, we'll keep our eyes on that and keep
our fingers crossed. For Matt Henry, if you look at
the pool game you played against India, thirty seven of
the forty five overs, India bowl at you in that game,
will spinovers, is that what you're expecting again from them
in the final.
Speaker 4 (01:52):
Yeah, to be honest, we're not sure, just because we
haven't been down to the stadium yet to have a
look at the pitch, and that will have a big bearing.
I think on a the makeup of our side, but equally,
I think the makeup of their side is well. But
I'm not expecting India to have too many changes. I'm
sure that Check Bravardi will play against us, considering he
(02:14):
got five wickets last time, which probably means they may
only have two seamers.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
So we're certainly planning around that.
Speaker 4 (02:21):
But we have noticed early in the tournament that they
did do it slightly differently though as well.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
In your eleven you've got four spinners as well, Mitchell Santa,
Michael Bricewell, Rchen Revendra, Glenn Phillips. Could you foresee a
scenario under which you might get thirty five to even
forty overs from your spinners in the final?
Speaker 4 (02:42):
Yeah, just it depends on how it's going in the
game and how much it does turn. I think you're
sort of the flip side of that. I think our
seam bowlers have been really outstanding through this tournament for
us as well, and Matt Henry's obviously leading wicket taker
at the moment, but Kyle Jamison and Willow Rourke have
chipped in with key spells and key wickets at times.
(03:02):
So it would really really depend on just the nature
of the wicket and whether we do deem it to
be more tougher against spinners than pace bowlers. But until
you get into the match, it's sometimes hard to know that.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
But the good thing is, as you alluded to, we
have got.
Speaker 4 (03:20):
I guess forty oervers of spin available to us there
if we want it.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
When you look at the success of your seam bowlers
and in fact all the same bowlers at this tournament.
Is the ability to vary pace and in fact to
take pace off key to bowling well at this tournament
in terms of taking wickets and keeping the runs down.
Speaker 4 (03:38):
Yeah, look, we've talked about our seamers of trying to
keep the stumps and players often as we can is
the wickets are a wee bit up and down in
terms of very ability of bounce, So that's been important
to us. But you're right, it's also about when you
get to those I guess death stages of the innings
of not being too predictable. I mean, the players these
(04:00):
days have a great ability to clear the boundary and
hit the ball out of the park. So I think
one of the key things is your own predictability and
setting fields that you do have options for them to
be able to either go straight or a little bit
wider if that's the right option as well.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
You have, of course played India already in Paul play.
It was really the outlier in terms of the Black
Apps performances at this tournament. Are you able just to
write that game off as a bad day out or
can you take things of value from it that will
be useful in the final.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
To be honest, we weren't that bad that day.
Speaker 4 (04:35):
I thought we bowled really well to restrict India to
I think it was two forty five or somewhere around
there was good. We just struggled to get partnerships together
that day. Other than I guess Caine's aty odd that
he scored. We just struggled to I guess, yeah, get
those partnerships and probably slipped a little bit behind the
run rates. So it's certainly something that we've been talking
(04:58):
about and if we are in a run chase, how
we put them under pressure a little bit more, and
that may mean some slight jigs and batting orders as well,
just to I guess, try and nullify their strengths as well.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
The batting innings in the semi final against South Africa
three sixty two for six batting first centuries to write
in revend racame Williamson, good knocks from Darryl Mitchell and
Glenn Phillips with strike rates right out there right through
the innings. Where does that innings rate among the fifty
over innings you've ever seen as Black Caps coach?
Speaker 3 (05:30):
Yeah, it was obviously very good.
Speaker 4 (05:34):
The nice thing for us is we have all of
our batsmen are in some really good form at the moment,
and that's always important in the short tournament like this.
So I think the build up with the try series
in against South Africa and Pakistan were important, and now
it's just around I think us trusting the way that
we're playing. I think the template, the blueprint that we're
(05:56):
trying to play has obviously been successful and I think
the only thing to really remember is the conditions we've
come from in Pakistan to UAE here are quite different.
So it's about adapting and adapting fast to the conditions
tomorrow when we do face India.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
Yeah, law was a bit of a road, wasn't it.
Dubai not likely to be quite the same as it
more two fifty two sixty pascore batting.
Speaker 4 (06:19):
First, Yeah, I think the only only real difference to
that as you saw as you scored to eighty odd
and India chased that down and it looked like it
was a better wicket than the one we were on.
They can sometimes be tricky to read here, the wickets.
They sometimes look a little bit dull and gray, and
sometimes they've got a shiny sheen on them. So it's
(06:41):
really been able to read what's what's right right out there.
But you're right, the wickets in Pakistan are definitely more
batter friendly. The three sixty we scored, I think was
probably forty or fifty runs above par, which which does
augur well with the form of our batsman.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
Gary with the ball in the fifty over game. We
know it's about, you know, economy and keeping the runs down,
but how important is take can wickets add regular intervals
during a fifty over innings?
Speaker 4 (07:10):
Yeah, I think the more you can take wickets, the
more well one pressure you put on the opposition, But too,
you make it harder for them to get a really
competitive sort of death stage at the innings at the ends,
because you're asking the middle and lower order to do
that rather than top order batsmen that are in So
one of our key strategies is around continually taking wickets
(07:32):
and if it does mean that we go we leak
a few more runs earlier in that knowledge that we
are trying to take wickets, then we're prepared to do
that because we've seen that if you can take early wickets,
it certainly puts more pressure on the opposition.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
One of your most effective bowlers at this tournament has
been Michael Brace. While he's your most economic, always going
for less than four and a half and over his
bowlers full compliments in pretty much every game he's picked
up wickets as well, including four against Bangladesh. This is
a bloke who really only started taking spin bowling seriously
a few years ago. What have you made of Michael
brace will emergence as a white ball spiner for you
(08:09):
in recent years.
Speaker 4 (08:10):
He's done it the last couple of years for us
and probably more in T twenty cricket, where at times
he's opened the bowling for us as well and been
a real strength. But I think one of one of
Michael's great great strengths is his accuracy. He's nice and tall,
he gets bounced as well. The Indian players are probably
more a debt than others in playing off spin, and
(08:32):
we did see that last time, although he went for
fifty five or something like that off his ten, but
still bold pretty well we thought as well. So there's
really five margins, I guess in having success and not
having success at times. But he's been really instrumental I
think in some of the successes that we've had throughout
this tournament.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Gary, you've been around the game for a long time
as a player and as a coach. You've played alongside
and with many players. You've coached many many players. Where
does rich and Ravendra wrate among the New Zealand players
you've seen at his age?
Speaker 3 (09:07):
Right up there?
Speaker 4 (09:08):
Yeah, there's no doubt he's a very very special talent
and has the ability to with the bat anyway to
score it or run a ball without looking like he's
taking too much risk. And I think when you can
do that, he certainly shows the skill sets that he's
got in his ability to hit all around the ground
(09:28):
can definitely change a game. But you couple that then
with his ability to bowl left arm spin and I
think in these conditions there's every chance he could take
well take a very big part in the game that's
coming up tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
And as black Caps coach, you've overseen New Zealand at a
World Cup Final, the fifty over World Cup Final twenty nineteen,
a Test Championship final, a T twenty World Cup Final.
How do you feel ahead of this game compared to
how you remember feeling ahead of those matches.
Speaker 4 (09:59):
I think the more you have those experiences, the more
you learn that once it gets into the match is
not actually too much you can control. It's rarely up
to the preparation and making sure you've got guys in
good headspace and there's a real belief in what we're doing.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
And I think throughout this tournament you have seen that.
Speaker 4 (10:18):
So we'll I guess, dot our eyes and cross our
teeth tonight at training and make sure everyone's nice and
clear on the role and what we're asking them to do,
and will complete our scouting today of India and make
sure we've got our plans in action of how we
want to play. But once the game starts, it's really
over to the players then, And yeah, you cross your
(10:40):
fingers and hope that everything you've done has put them
in the right frame of mind to go out and
compete and perform and hopefully get the win that we're
all after.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Well, it won't surprise you to know that there are
a lot of people back here stocking up on coffee
and red ball and whatever it is that keeps them awake,
getting ready for a ten o'clock start tonight to watch
the black Caps and Action against India, competing for the
ICC Champions Trophy. Gary from all of us all the
best to you and the team. Will be watching through
the night and wish you all the best. Thanks for
taking the time for a chat.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
Thanks Barney, cheers Thanks Gary.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
Gary Stead, coach of the black Caps, keeping it keeping
it cool and calm as usual. You never get too
many highs and lows from Gary Stead, do you. He's
fairly considered in his comments and his analysis.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
For more from Weekend Sport with Jason Fine, listen live
to News Talk st B weekends from midday, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to the Weekend Sport Podcast with Jason Vine
from News Talk ZB.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
A night in Dubai from ten o'clock New Zealand time,
the black Caps take on India in the ICC Champions
Trophy Final. Black Caps coach Gary Stared is with us
out of Dubai. Gary, thanks for taking the time for
a chat. Let's start with personnel. What's the latest you
can tell us about the likely involvement or not of
Matt Henry.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (00:34):
Look, I mean Matt obviously landed on the shoulder and
was in a little bit of pain, so we're going
to give him every opportunity. He'll have a fitness test
tonight just to see how he's tracking and we'll make
a call after that whether he plays tomorrow or not.
So until we have that, he has that bowl this evening,
there's just a little bit of unknown around his readiness
(00:57):
or not.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Is it his bowling shoulder that is the problem.
Speaker 4 (01:01):
Yeah, it's his right right shoulder, so yeah, it's obviously
important to him.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
So yeah, it's.
Speaker 4 (01:08):
Not ideal, but unfortunately those things come with playing support
at times.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
So if he is ruled out of the final, is
it most likely, Gary, you'll go like for like and
select another SEMA.
Speaker 4 (01:21):
Yeah, I think the different options we have, it's either
that and we've got I guess two other seamas in
the squad and j Duffy and Nathan Smith, or if
we think the pitch will turn appreciatively, then we'd consider
another batsman as well.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
All Right, we'll keep our eyes on that and keep
our fingers crossed. For Matt Henry, if you look at
the pool game you played against India, thirty seven of
the forty five overs, India bowl at you in that game,
will spinovers, is that what you're expecting again from them
in the final.
Speaker 4 (01:52):
Yeah, to be honest, we're not sure, just because we
haven't been down to the stadium yet to have a
look at the pitch, and that will have a big bearing.
I think on a the makeup of our side, but equally,
I think the makeup of their side is well. But
I'm not expecting India to have too many changes. I'm
sure that Check Bravardi will play against us, considering he
(02:14):
got five wickets last time, which probably means they may
only have two seamers.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
So we're certainly planning around that.
Speaker 4 (02:21):
But we have noticed early in the tournament that they
did do it slightly differently though as well.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
In your eleven you've got four spinners as well, Mitchell Santa,
Michael Bricewell, Rchen Revendra, Glenn Phillips. Could you foresee a
scenario under which you might get thirty five to even
forty overs from your spinners in the final?
Speaker 4 (02:42):
Yeah, just it depends on how it's going in the
game and how much it does turn. I think you're
sort of the flip side of that. I think our
seam bowlers have been really outstanding through this tournament for
us as well, and Matt Henry's obviously leading wicket taker
at the moment, but Kyle Jamison and Willow Rourke have
chipped in with key spells and key wickets at times.
(03:02):
So it would really really depend on just the nature
of the wicket and whether we do deem it to
be more tougher against spinners than pace bowlers. But until
you get into the match, it's sometimes hard to know that.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
But the good thing is, as you alluded to, we
have got.
Speaker 4 (03:20):
I guess forty oervers of spin available to us there
if we want it.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
When you look at the success of your seam bowlers
and in fact all the same bowlers at this tournament.
Is the ability to vary pace and in fact to
take pace off key to bowling well at this tournament
in terms of taking wickets and keeping the runs down.
Speaker 4 (03:38):
Yeah, look, we've talked about our seamers of trying to
keep the stumps and players often as we can is
the wickets are a wee bit up and down in
terms of very ability of bounce, So that's been important
to us. But you're right, it's also about when you
get to those I guess death stages of the innings
of not being too predictable. I mean, the players these
(04:00):
days have a great ability to clear the boundary and
hit the ball out of the park. So I think
one of the key things is your own predictability and
setting fields that you do have options for them to
be able to either go straight or a little bit
wider if that's the right option as well.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
You have, of course played India already in Paul play.
It was really the outlier in terms of the Black
Apps performances at this tournament. Are you able just to
write that game off as a bad day out or
can you take things of value from it that will
be useful in the final.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
To be honest, we weren't that bad that day.
Speaker 4 (04:35):
I thought we bowled really well to restrict India to
I think it was two forty five or somewhere around
there was good. We just struggled to get partnerships together
that day. Other than I guess Caine's aty odd that
he scored. We just struggled to I guess, yeah, get
those partnerships and probably slipped a little bit behind the
run rates. So it's certainly something that we've been talking
(04:58):
about and if we are in a run chase, how
we put them under pressure a little bit more, and
that may mean some slight jigs and batting orders as well,
just to I guess, try and nullify their strengths as well.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
The batting innings in the semi final against South Africa
three sixty two for six batting first centuries to write
in revend racame Williamson, good knocks from Darryl Mitchell and
Glenn Phillips with strike rates right out there right through
the innings. Where does that innings rate among the fifty
over innings you've ever seen as Black Caps coach?
Speaker 3 (05:30):
Yeah, it was obviously very good.
Speaker 4 (05:34):
The nice thing for us is we have all of
our batsmen are in some really good form at the moment,
and that's always important in the short tournament like this.
So I think the build up with the try series
in against South Africa and Pakistan were important, and now
it's just around I think us trusting the way that
we're playing. I think the template, the blueprint that we're
(05:56):
trying to play has obviously been successful and I think
the only thing to really remember is the conditions we've
come from in Pakistan to UAE here are quite different.
So it's about adapting and adapting fast to the conditions
tomorrow when we do face India.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
Yeah, law was a bit of a road, wasn't it.
Dubai not likely to be quite the same as it
more two fifty two sixty pascore batting.
Speaker 4 (06:19):
First, Yeah, I think the only only real difference to
that as you saw as you scored to eighty odd
and India chased that down and it looked like it
was a better wicket than the one we were on.
They can sometimes be tricky to read here, the wickets.
They sometimes look a little bit dull and gray, and
sometimes they've got a shiny sheen on them. So it's
(06:41):
really been able to read what's what's right right out there.
But you're right, the wickets in Pakistan are definitely more
batter friendly. The three sixty we scored, I think was
probably forty or fifty runs above par, which which does
augur well with the form of our batsman.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
Gary with the ball in the fifty over game. We
know it's about, you know, economy and keeping the runs down,
but how important is take can wickets add regular intervals
during a fifty over innings?
Speaker 4 (07:10):
Yeah, I think the more you can take wickets, the
more well one pressure you put on the opposition, But too,
you make it harder for them to get a really
competitive sort of death stage at the innings at the ends,
because you're asking the middle and lower order to do
that rather than top order batsmen that are in So
one of our key strategies is around continually taking wickets
(07:32):
and if it does mean that we go we leak
a few more runs earlier in that knowledge that we
are trying to take wickets, then we're prepared to do
that because we've seen that if you can take early wickets,
it certainly puts more pressure on the opposition.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
One of your most effective bowlers at this tournament has
been Michael Brace. While he's your most economic, always going
for less than four and a half and over his
bowlers full compliments in pretty much every game he's picked
up wickets as well, including four against Bangladesh. This is
a bloke who really only started taking spin bowling seriously
a few years ago. What have you made of Michael
brace will emergence as a white ball spiner for you
(08:09):
in recent years.
Speaker 4 (08:10):
He's done it the last couple of years for us
and probably more in T twenty cricket, where at times
he's opened the bowling for us as well and been
a real strength. But I think one of one of
Michael's great great strengths is his accuracy. He's nice and tall,
he gets bounced as well. The Indian players are probably
more a debt than others in playing off spin, and
(08:32):
we did see that last time, although he went for
fifty five or something like that off his ten, but
still bold pretty well we thought as well. So there's
really five margins, I guess in having success and not
having success at times. But he's been really instrumental I
think in some of the successes that we've had throughout
this tournament.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Gary, you've been around the game for a long time
as a player and as a coach. You've played alongside
and with many players. You've coached many many players. Where
does rich and Ravendra wrate among the New Zealand players
you've seen at his age?
Speaker 3 (09:07):
Right up there?
Speaker 4 (09:08):
Yeah, there's no doubt he's a very very special talent
and has the ability to with the bat anyway to
score it or run a ball without looking like he's
taking too much risk. And I think when you can
do that, he certainly shows the skill sets that he's
got in his ability to hit all around the ground
(09:28):
can definitely change a game. But you couple that then
with his ability to bowl left arm spin and I
think in these conditions there's every chance he could take
well take a very big part in the game that's
coming up tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
And as black Caps coach, you've overseen New Zealand at a
World Cup Final, the fifty over World Cup Final twenty nineteen,
a Test Championship final, a T twenty World Cup Final.
How do you feel ahead of this game compared to
how you remember feeling ahead of those matches.
Speaker 4 (09:59):
I think the more you have those experiences, the more
you learn that once it gets into the match is
not actually too much you can control. It's rarely up
to the preparation and making sure you've got guys in
good headspace and there's a real belief in what we're doing.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
And I think throughout this tournament you have seen that.
Speaker 4 (10:18):
So we'll I guess, dot our eyes and cross our
teeth tonight at training and make sure everyone's nice and
clear on the role and what we're asking them to do,
and will complete our scouting today of India and make
sure we've got our plans in action of how we
want to play. But once the game starts, it's really
over to the players then, And yeah, you cross your
(10:40):
fingers and hope that everything you've done has put them
in the right frame of mind to go out and
compete and perform and hopefully get the win that we're
all after.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Well, it won't surprise you to know that there are
a lot of people back here stocking up on coffee
and red ball and whatever it is that keeps them awake,
getting ready for a ten o'clock start tonight to watch
the black Caps and Action against India, competing for the
ICC Champions Trophy. Gary from all of us all the
best to you and the team. Will be watching through
the night and wish you all the best. Thanks for
taking the time for a chat.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
Thanks Barney, cheers Thanks Gary.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
Gary Stead, coach of the black Caps, keeping it keeping
it cool and calm as usual. You never get too
many highs and lows from Gary Stead, do you. He's
fairly considered in his comments and his analysis.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
For more from Weekend Sport with Jason Fine, listen live
to News Talk st B weekends from midday, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.
Popular Podcasts
True Crime Tonight
If you eat, sleep, and breathe true crime, TRUE CRIME TONIGHT is serving up your nightly fix. Five nights a week, KT STUDIOS & iHEART RADIO invite listeners to pull up a seat for an unfiltered look at the biggest cases making headlines, celebrity scandals, and the trials everyone is watching. With a mix of expert analysis, hot takes, and listener call-ins, TRUE CRIME TONIGHT goes beyond the headlines to uncover the twists, turns, and unanswered questions that keep us all obsessed—because, at TRUE CRIME TONIGHT, there’s a seat for everyone. Whether breaking down crime scene forensics, scrutinizing serial killers, or debating the most binge-worthy true crime docs, True Crime Tonight is the fresh, fast-paced, and slightly addictive home for true crime lovers.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.