Belgium, New Zealand athletes win 2024 Ironman 70.3 World Championship
The Ironman 70.3 World Championship 2024 concluded on Sunday in the North Island city of Taupo, New Zealand.
New Zealand head coach Gary Stead admitted his future at the helm is uncertain following the Blackcaps’ early exit from the Men’s T20 World Cup. Afghanistan’s win over Papua New Guinea meant they sealed the second spot in Super Eight from Group C, thus ending New Zealand’s run in the tournament.
The Black Caps, who were runners-up in the 2021 T20 World Cup, came into the 2024 edition on the back of no warm-up matches and suffering consecutive defeats to Afghanistan and West Indies. Stead has been New Zealand’s coach since 2018 and has still a year left in his contract.
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“That’s a question you should be asking other people. I can look at myself in the mirror and know that the preparation we tried to put in place has been as good as what’s capable of and all I can do is try and prepare the players to be ready for the games,” said Stead to Radio New Zealand.
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New Zealand has two Group C games remaining at the Men’s T20 World Cup against Uganda and Papua New Guinea to avoid finishing at the bottom of the points table. “Whilst it may seem that we’re out of it there is still that pride of playing for your country and making sure that we put the effort in that we’re proud of as well.”
“You can’t control everything in a cricket game but the things we can control are about the style we’re trying to play. We have a number of fans that are still rooting for the Black Caps and the way that they play their cricket,” added Stead.
He signed off by conceding there’s a hollow feeling in the team camp following the confirmation of them not making it to the Super Eights. “It’s a little bit of a hollow feeling out there at the moment, the guys are disappointed, we came here to try and win matches and win tournaments. And it looks as though that’s out of our hands at the moment.”
“There’s still matches to play for your country, and I think that’s very, very important to everyone here. We’re certainly not taking the next two matches lightly, they’re matches for New Zealand, and I know they’re still held dear to the players’ hearts.”
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