Gary Stead speaks on New Zealand’s chaotic travel schedule and how it has been a barrier for the side in general.
Gary Stead speaks out on how the travel schedule for his side has taken a lot out of his players en route to the Champions Trophy final.
New Zealand has arguably the most difficult travel schedule of any team participating in this Champions Trophy. They started their tournament in Karachi, then moved on to Rawalpindi, then to Dubai to play India in their last group match, then to Lahore for a semi-final, and finally back to Dubai for the final.
Numerous arguments have been made during this tournament that India has a competitive edge because they play all of their matches in the same city and at the same location. Gary Stead, the coach of New Zealand, maintained that the choices were “out of [their] hands” and refused to comment.
He did, however, discuss the pressures his players faced due to their busy travel schedule. Furthermore, none of New Zealand’s matches were cancelled.
“There’s no doubt that coming here after Lahore – we had a full day of travel yesterday – takes it out of you a little bit,” Stead said. His team chose not to train on Friday, two days out from the final, using that day to recuperate as well.
“But we’ve got a couple of days now, a little bit of recovery and a little bit of planning and training towards the game. But I guess we’re deep into the tournament now and sometimes it’s not always a lot of training that you need. It’s just getting your body and your mind right to compete in the final. That will be our key focus over the next two days.”
On India playing their whole tournament in Dubai, Stead had this to say:
“They’re not decisions that come across my desk anyway. For us, it’s something that we can’t control, so it’s really just getting on with it. Yes, India have played their four matches here. We’re lucky enough to have had one here against them. It was a good match, without us quite putting our best foot forward as well. Wherever you play, you just have to go up and be able to be better than them on the day, and that’s our focus.”