New Zealand coach Gary Stead, who isn’t with the team during their ODI series against India, has come under fire for deciding to go on leave when his men are struggling.

Shane Jurgensen, the bowling coach, who is standing in for Stead, confirmed ahead of the series that started on February 5 that Stead’s break was “pre-planned”, and remained unaffected by a string of poor results for New Zealand, including a 3-0 Test series sweep in Australia and a 5-0 sweep in the T20Is at home against India.

With an injured Kane Williamson also missing the opening game, the team is without the two leaders, and former skipper Jeremy Coney was stinging in his criticism about the timing of Stead’s break.

“This is probably the most important season we’ve had for 10 years,” Coney, who is a commentator, told Radio Sport. “There’s no Zimbabwe, Bangladesh or West Indies to feast on and improve your results. It’s the three big boys [Australia, India, England]. We were marmalised in Australia and it’s now five-zip at home [in the T20Is].

“It’s [now] a change in format. It was perhaps the point of the season where different players are coming back and returning, some new ones – a chance to turn it around, [try] something different, [to say] can we stop this bloody train. Wouldn’t you think the main coach and selector could be there?

“Wouldn’t you stay to oversee the change of new players and personnel coming in? Wouldn’t you see to the exchange of information that’s garnered from the first five games against the Indians passed on to these new fellows? To talk to the entirely new seam attack that are going into this? … Wouldn’t you think that he’d want to talk to his coaching staff to devise new methods and correct problems and coax some better stuff from his charges? This is all basic stuff,” Coney railed.

Jurgensen had pointed out that all of the support staff had enjoyed time off in recent months to manage their workload. However, Comey was unimpressed, pointing out that there was plenty of time in the coming months for some rest and relaxation, including after the three ODIs.

“If I was [NZC chief executive] David White, I would say to myself, no I’m sorry Gary, you can wait a week. Or If you are really finding it tough and have to be away from the family, let’s have a chat and find another coach for the T20 format,” he said, suggesting split coaching.

“If you want to see your family, everyone wants to do that, you can go and get a job in a hardware store and see your family every night. This is the job and this is the main part of the season. It’s ridiculous this is happening at this crunch time.

“I’ve heard … they want to freshen up for the other challenges ahead after this series. Well, what are they? What? What? What are they? They’ve got three T20s and three ODIs against Australia. Then there’s the rest of March off, all of April off, all of May off, a couple of weeks in June off. Then we face the might of Ireland, Scotland and West Indies. Give us a break about freshening up for the next series!

“You don’t take your captain away from the helm when you are wanted most, when the ship is in deep shtook, amongst the rocks. What you do is you roll your sleeves up surely … Would you call it desertion or would you just say it’s really bad look?”

White, however, defended the decision, clarifying that it was scheduled six months ago. With the former coach Mike Hesson giving up the job because of workload issues, and Stead himself away from home for “something like 350 days” while with the team, it was up to NZC to manage the support staff, he said.

In an era of relentless schedules, Stead isn’t the only high-profile coach to sit out of a series in recent months. Australia’s Justin Langer didn’t travel to India for the three ODIs, and England too have assured Chris Silverwood of time off this year. The demands of the international calendar means high-profile coaches gravitate towards jobs in T20 leagues after a few years. And, with the focus growing on mental health of players and staff, workload management is an area of importance for boards.

“Player and support staff’s workload is a big issue in international cricket,” White explained. “We want to make the role sustainable going forward … It is not just Gary, we are constantly rotating the support staff, so we can manage the workload. Of any sport in New Zealand, the one that has the most demand for time is cricket.

“Gary has been always reluctant to take a break, the man works very, very hard, so it is something as managers we must manage the workload. Otherwise, we will have a burnout. As you know, coaching, at international level, is one of the toughest jobs in cricket.”