The Steady era ends as you would expect: quietly and unobtrusively

The Black Caps coach never sought headlines, just consistent results, PLUS: A little NBA and NHL chat.

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The Gary Stead era is officially over.

His legacy deserves a fitting tribute, but once you’ve faithfully recorded the palmarès — and it is an unprecedented one (see below) for a New Zealand cricket coach at that — what exactly is left to say?

It is not that Stead was unlovable; it is more that he remained largely unknowable until the very end.

Stead was not charismatic. He wasn’t jocular. He was never volcanic, nor did he seem especially empathetic. He never felt the need to be the alpha in the room, a la Steve Hansen or Brendon McCullum, nor was he the new breed of ‘data nerd’ coach. He was a man who never needed to grow into his nickname because it was always thus — Steady.

Cricket seeped from every pore — he was born into the game, with his father David playing more than 120 times for Canterbury — yet he often carried himself like he was in the midst of his chores (which, I guess, as a paid employee of NZC, he was). He was not prone to outward signs of emotion and rarely, if ever, courted controversy.