In what could be a major boost to the New Zealand cricket team ahead of the T20 World Cup, the Black Caps are looking to rope in IPL coaches Stephen Fleming and Shane Bond, for national roles now. As per a report in the New Zealand Herald, the duo could soon be assisting coach Gary Stead for the upcoming tournament.
The report further suggests that it could still be a tough task to get them on board, given their prior commitments as coaches for T20 leagues, around the world. While Fleming has been associated as the head coach of Chennai Super Kings, Shane Bond was associated with the Mumbai Indians for a long time as a bowling coach, and is now with Rajasthan Royals.
Not just that, Fleming and Bond, both have had short stints with the Kiwi team in the past. The former had a consultancy role with the team during the 2021 T20 World Cup, where they lost in the final to Australia. If any of the two do come on board, it could well be a short-term assignment too, given the history of coaches with New Zealand.
In 2023, Ian Bell and James Foster had joined the team for the preparation of the World Cup. This year, Kyle Mills, Jacob Oram and Daniel Flynn had joined the coaching staff as well, for the series against Bangladesh, Pakistan, South Africa and Australia.
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