Twenty-nine years ago, Gary Stead was cleaning the windows of the Lord’s Pavilion as part of his work on the MCC groundstaff. Now he is back, sat on the away balcony as coach of New Zealand in Sunday’s World Cup final against hosts England.
Stead, 47, became New Zealand coach last August and has helped them to their second successive World Cup final, with the highlight being this week’s semi-final win over India.
That set up a date for Stead back at his old stomping ground.
“In 1990 I was lucky enough to be on the groundstaff here at Lord's and you had different duties when you turned up and one of them was cleaning the windows, as well as selling scorecards, taking the mail around and scorebox duty too which was pretty cool,” he said.
“It was a great experience and any time coming back here is pretty special. Playing Australia here was pretty cool, but the extra emphasis on what this [final] is about makes it even more special.
“As a team we've worked on three key goals throughout the tournament and we've achieved two of them, so now we've just got one to go.”
Stead acknowledges that England, the World No1 team, are favourites for the final but, as ever, Kane Williamson’s team do not mind flying under the radar.
“There'll be a lot of talk about that but at the end of the day it is a game of cricket,” he said. “If you strip it right back that is what it is and it is about watching the ball in front of us.
“There is pressure on both teams and it is how you handle that and what is made of it. The exciting thing is neither team have won a World Cup. Both have had some finals experience but you're going to have a different winner than last time.
“Seeing that England and India were being touted as the winners maybe there is more pressure on them.”
Much of the buildup in the UK has centred on Sky’s decision to show the game Free To Air on Channel 4 and More4. The game is being broadcast for free in New Zealand too, and Stead hopes the bleary eyes of the country are on his team through into Monday morning.
“It’s on free to air back home as well, which is awesome,” he said. “Many people can stay up late and I know there’s a lot of people spending some late hours, and I think Monday might be public holiday because most of New Zealand will be up watching. We really appreciate the support.”
