With the one-off test between Afghanistan and New Zealand having been abandoned, the black caps head coach Gary Stead was left frustrated to have been denied a chance to play Afghanistan.
The one-off test has been abandoned without a ball bowled as rain and a wet outfield played a spoilsport at Noida. The Blackcaps were aiming to get familiar with subcontinent conditions for their upcoming series against Sri Lanka and India.
While speaking at the post-match conference, Afghanistan head coach Jonathan Trott expressed his disappointment over the match being abandoned. Meanwhile, Gary Stead said, “The most disappointing part for us is that we lost the opportunity to be match-hardened and match-ready when we go into our Test match [against Sri Lanka] next week.”
“The guys are really disappointed. It was an opportunity to play Afghanistan. It doesn’t come around that often.
“They have some unique bowlers – it’s always good to get your head around how you face them. The way they play is a little bit different from other countries. It’s always learning what you can do when you get in those match situations.”
Despite the one-off test was not part of the WTC, Stead said the team was left frustrated as the format is considered to be very emotional for the team.
“Even though it was fine for those two days, there were thunderstorms the nights before and the ground was just too soft and the umpires deemed that unfit to play on,” he said. “So that is sort of out of the players’ hands in a way as well.
“But we were frustrated. We have come here to play cricket and play a Test match and as Jonathan [Trott, Afghanistan head coach] said, Test cricket, certainly to our group of players that is here, that’s very, very dear to their hearts and every Test you get to play in is a big one.
“So regardless of whether it has World Test Championship points or not, that opportunity to get out there for five days, it looked a great surface. The whole block looked fantastic, so it would have been a great match of Test cricket.”
New Zealand does not have another test against Afghanistan in the current FTP. Gary Stead has also welcomed playing more tests against Afghanistan including white-ball formats, which they won against New Zealand in the group stages of the T20 World Cup 2024.
New Zealand has secured the third position India secured the top position and Australia second position in the WTC points table.
“I don’t make the decisions around the Future Tours Programme and big tours,” Stead said. “But I said it right from the start of coming here, Afghanistan has knocked just about every top team in the world over now.”
“So they’re certainly a force and becoming more and more of a force in world cricket. That’s something for the Afghanistan and New Zealand boards to get their heads around.
“It was our first Test match against Afghanistan and we were really excited about that. They’ve been great competitors of ours over the last few World Cups. We’ve had some great games of cricket.”
Gary Stead said that New Zealand is desperate to make the WTC final. Five of their remaining eight tests in the cycle will be in Asia, but he is confident of the side adapting to the conditions.
“The World Test Championship is alive and well, and we’re currently in third place, and we want to make the finals again,” he said. “We’ve been there once in the past, and we are desperate to get there again. So every test match we play will be an important one.
“The conditions that we face in Galle will be, I’m sure, different to Bangalore, Pune and Mumbai when we come back here again. So it’s still about adapting to the different surfaces where I’m learning from those.”
“But also banking the knowledge you have created in the past even though it’s been a couple of [sessions of] trainings out there, we’d still bank on what we’ve learnt on those sort of pitches.”
New Zealand will be playing a two-match test series against Sri Lanka starting on September 18 at Galle International Stadium.
