[EXCLUSIVE] "I hope Pakistan play a really good brand of cricket and take Australia on": Mickey Arthur

[MenInG]

In an exclusive interview for PakPassion, the former Pakistan Head Coach and Director of Cricket, Mickey Arthur chats with Saj about:

Would he rather be in Australia with the Pakistan side at the moment?
Was he surprised at Babar Azam's decision to resign as captain?
His thoughts on the appointment of Shan Masood as Test captain for Pakistan.
Pakistan's lack of experience on the tour of Australia, especially in the bowling department.
Can Pakistan's batters handle the Aussie pacers?
The crucial role of the top 4 batters and Shaheen Shah Afridi for Pakistan's chances of success in Australia.
Pakistan's past record in Australia and can they overcome the challenges.

 

[BouncerGuy]

I agree with Mickey when he said that this team lacks experience, particularly in the seam bowling department. Our Bowling department is pretty fresh but having experience has not been useful in the past having lost all 14 matches on Australian soil.

Right and agree to the fact that stepping down from captaincy should help Babar. He was under pressure and was pulling in a lot of criticism but now he can only focus on what he is meant to do, and that is his batting.​

 

[Asad T]

He still speaks with a lot of passion, even though he has been mishandled by the PCB and Pak media. If I were him, I would feel a lot more sour!
I liked his insights about Shan and Babar. And he makes a good point about Pak having nothing to lose in the series down under, so they might as well play fearlessly.

 

[FearlessRoar]

Mickey's comments on Shan Masood are welcoming. He is absolutely right that Masood has good PR and has really good communication skills, which are the need of the time. He can be the face of PCT in the world.

And he has started his first assignment as Test captain on a high note with a century against the Prime Minister's 11 in Australia.

 

[Hassan A]

His analysis of Pakistan's prospects in Australia is spot-on. The importance of the top 4 batters and Shaheen Shah Afridi's role is crucial. It's interesting to wonder whether Pakistan can alter their historical record in Australia based on these factors.

 

[Danyal A]

Mickey points out some critical areas for Pak team especially his views on captaincy and Pak team's structure bring up important points about Pak's team adapting to different playing conditions in Australia.

 

[Ali T]

The passion Mickey has for Pakistan cricket is fantastic.
I agree with his views about Shaan Masood about being captain - an intelligent person who could help steer the test team in the right direction. The main question mark remains on his performance.. But I do back him to do well.

 

[Farah Sohail]

@Saj Why didnt u talk with him about Worldcup? His insights abt what went wrong in worldcup?

Also i feel he dodged/avoided question on whether he was surprised about Babar resigning as captain

 

[Saj]

@Saj Why didnt u talk with him about Worldcup? His insights abt what went wrong in worldcup?

Also i feel he dodged/avoided question on whether he was surprised about Babar resigning as captain

At the moment he's in discussions with PCB about various things, so understandably he couldn't really speak about the World Cup and his future at the moment.

 

[Savak]

Mickey definitely lacked passion in his second tenure. The Mickey of old would give the team a severe tongue lashing and tell them some harsh much needed truths even in press conferences.

This time he was comfortable knowing full well he had a job in Derbyshire if Pakistan let him go.

 

[Firebat]

Mickey definitely lacked passion in his second tenure. The Mickey of old would give the team a severe tongue lashing and tell them some harsh much needed truths even in press conferences.

This time he was comfortable knowing full well he had a job in Derbyshire if Pakistan let him go.

No matter how big you talk, you can never have that same passion and commitment to a job when you've got 1 foot somewhere else that's more comfortable. Just human nature.

 

[Saj]

I still believe that the players overruled Mickey and Bradburn in terms of the brand of cricket played at the World Cup.

I'm sure all this will come out eventually.

 

[Farah Sohail]

I still believe that the players overruled Mickey and Bradburn in terms of the brand of cricket played at the World Cup.

I'm sure all this will come out eventually.

Mickey and Grant should have been strict with the players, rather than lovey dovey stuff..

 

[Savak]

I still believe that the players overruled Mickey and Bradburn in terms of the brand of cricket played at the World Cup.

I'm sure all this will come out eventually.

It is well known that Babar and the senior troika of Rizwan, Shadab and Shaheen have been very dominant in Pakistan Cricket in the last 3-4 years. They can easily over rule the opinion of the coaches when it comes to selections. But my complaint with Mickey was that he was happy to go along with the motions.

 

[Saj]

Mickey and Grant should have been strict with the players, rather than lovey dovey stuff..

This is Pakistan cricket.

It's not always easy to do that.

 

[SpiritOf1903]

Mickey Arthur the has-been who somehow got his job back because he tweeted the CEO.

This guy was not the answer and with the dubious cronies in positions of power, now Allah is Hafiz for this team

 

[gazza619]

Mickey Arthur still doesnt get it, despite years of coaching experience.

Pakistan doesnt need to play to good brand of cricket in Australia. That is like asking Amir Khan to fight like Mike Tyson.

Pakistan needs to play a boring and smart brand of cricket and aim to take the test matches to day 5.

If a test match is in day 5, then any team can have a good session and win.

 

[BunnyRabbit]

@Saj Where is Mickey these days? After Zaka changed the portfolio of the previous coaching staff, is Mickey working in NCA these days? Or has he gone back to England?
It'd be actually good if the likes of Mickey, Bradburn and Puttick to be working at NCA with the domestic cricketers these days.

 

[Saj]

@Saj Where is Mickey these days? After Zaka changed the portfolio of the previous coaching staff, is Mickey working in NCA these days? Or has he gone back to England?
It'd be actually good if the likes of Mickey, Bradburn and Puttick to be working at NCA with the domestic cricketers these days.

He's in England at the moment.

 

[Junaids]

Mickey and Grant should have been strict with the players, rather than lovey dovey stuff..

With all due respect, you are getting your sports confused.

In cricket, the coach is the servant of the captain. Ian Chappell has been banging on about this for years.

"Big" coaches usually fail. If you look at major teams, they tend to do best when the coach is a positive, likeable guy who defers to the skipper.

This is why the period of Misbah as coach with Azhar Ali as dummy captain was such a catastrophe for Pakistan. It's also why things were awkward for Mickey Arthur for the period from the terrible tour of Australia in 16-17 until the retirement of Misbah and Younis eight months later. It had become obvious that Misbah no longer warranted a place in the team and that he wasn't going to voluntarily retire. The need was for strong selectors to stop selecting Misbah, but instead the team limped on with a failing Misbah as skipper, and with the coach having to keep his mouth shut.

 

[Junaids]

Mickey Arthur still doesnt get it, despite years of coaching experience.

Pakistan doesnt need to play to good brand of cricket in Australia. That is like asking Amir Khan to fight like Mike Tyson.

Pakistan needs to play a boring and smart brand of cricket and aim to take the test matches to day 5.

If a test match is in day 5, then any team can have a good session and win.

I actually disagree with you on this.

Pakistan has the strongest batting line-up that it has ever taken to Australia. Given Rizwan's prior Test success with the bat there, and Shadab's in similar conditions in South Africa, they should have been going into this series under Mickey with a stable team of:

1. Abdullah Shafique
2. Shan Masood (c)
3. Agha Salam
4. Babar Azam
5. Saud Shakeel
6. Mohammad Rizwan (wk)
7. Shadab Khan
8. Faheem Ashraf
9. Hasan Ali
10. Naseem Shah
11. Shaheen Shah Afridi

Three things have gone wrong:

1. Shadab Khan has made himself unselectable by neglecting his red ball game.
2. Naseem Shah has been lost to injury.
3. Mickey Arthur has been replaced by an unqualified coach who has never exhibited any coaching skills at all at any level.

It's frustrating because this is the most vulnerable Australian Test team for 45 years.

1. Their two openers are geriatric, and one of them is failing.

2. Steve Smith is not the player he used to be, especially against extreme pace.

3. Mitchell Marsh has replaced Cameron Green in the Test team for white ball reasons - and he isn't good enough.

4. The bowling attack of Starc-Hazlewood-Cummins-Lyon is a veteran version of the same attack they have had for the last 7 years, which has been soundly beaten by South Africa (17-18) and by India in these conditions.

The PCB needed to insist upon a better lead-up to the Test series and needed to keep in place the coaching team that have taken Pakistan to Top Place in the current World Test Championship table. But they were too busy settling Misbah and Hafeez's old scores against Mickey Arthur.

Mickey lives in Perth and has had his own cricket academy at Christ Church Grammar School which has the same pacy, bouncy wickets they will face in the First Test at Perth - and which they were kept away from by their pointless side-match on an Asian surface at Canberra.

Pakistan would have been much better prepared had they flown to Perth direct from the World Cup and spent 3 weeks with a 25 man squad playing against itself at Christ Church Grammar in Perth.

 

[BunnyRabbit]

He's in England at the moment.

So basically Pak Cricket has 2 directors/Head Coaches at the moment.
Changing the portfolio wasn't the correct move IMO.

 

[Saj]

So basically Pak Cricket has 2 directors/Head Coaches at the moment.
Changing the portfolio wasn't the correct move IMO.

I guess Mickey is saying to PCB this is my job specification, this is what I have been hired to do, not work at the NCA.

PCB is probably saying you'll work where we want you to.

It's a mess.

 

[BunnyRabbit]

I guess Mickey is saying to PCB this is my job specification, this is what I have been hired to do, not work at the NCA.

PCB is probably saying you'll work where we want you to.

It's a mess.

Yes and it's PCB who's losing money. Would have been better to have released Mickey from his contract with some compensation probably. However, I do think, Mickey could do some good work at NCA alongside Bradburn and Puttick with Pakistan's domestic cricketers considering it is off season in English domestic cricket.
Zaka Ashraf's approach has always been poor. We saw how he handled the withholding of NOC's of Pakistani Cricketers for BCB back in 2012-13 which led to further friction between the boards.

 

[BunnyRabbit]

I actually disagree with you on this.

Pakistan has the strongest batting line-up that it has ever taken to Australia. Given Rizwan's prior Test success with the bat there, and Shadab's in similar conditions in South Africa, they should have been going into this series under Mickey with a stable team of:

1. Abdullah Shafique
2. Shan Masood (c)
3. Agha Salam
4. Babar Azam
5. Saud Shakeel
6. Mohammad Rizwan (wk)
7. Shadab Khan
8. Faheem Ashraf
9. Hasan Ali
10. Naseem Shah
11. Shaheen Shah Afridi

Three things have gone wrong:

1. Shadab Khan has made himself unselectable by neglecting his red ball game.
2. Naseem Shah has been lost to injury.
3. Mickey Arthur has been replaced by an unqualified coach who has never exhibited any coaching skills at all at any level.

It's frustrating because this is the most vulnerable Australian Test team for 45 years.

1. Their two openers are geriatric, and one of them is failing.

2. Steve Smith is not the player he used to be, especially against extreme pace.

3. Mitchell Marsh has replaced Cameron Green in the Test team for white ball reasons - and he isn't good enough.

4. The bowling attack of Starc-Hazlewood-Cummins-Lyon is a veteran version of the same attack they have had for the last 7 years, which has been soundly beaten by South Africa (17-18) and by India in these conditions.

The PCB needed to insist upon a better lead-up to the Test series and needed to keep in place the coaching team that have taken Pakistan to Top Place in the current World Test Championship table. But they were too busy settling Misbah and Hafeez's old scores against Mickey Arthur.

Mickey lives in Perth and has had his own cricket academy at Christ Church Grammar School which has the same pacy, bouncy wickets they will face in the First Test at Perth - and which they were kept away from by their pointless side-match on an Asian surface at Canberra.

Pakistan would have been much better prepared had they flown to Perth direct from the World Cup and spent 3 weeks with a 25 man squad playing against itself at Christ Church Grammar in Perth.

I disagree with flying the players straight from India to Australia. The players were already fatigued as they had been on road consistently since August. The ones in the world cup squad needed some time home to relieve some of their mental exhaustion.

 

[Cricket Warrior]

I think this man was mishandled by PCB. He has already delivered results back in 2017, so we should have been stuck with him at least until the T20 World Cup in 2024.

His bonding with players is quite friendly and he knows how to get the maximum out of them.

 

[Saj]

Yes and it's PCB who's losing money. Would have been better to have released Mickey from his contract with some compensation probably. However, I do think, Mickey could do some good work at NCA alongside Bradburn and Puttick with Pakistan's domestic cricketers considering it is off season in English domestic cricket.
Zaka Ashraf's approach has always been poor. We saw how he handled the withholding of NOC's of Pakistani Cricketers for BCB back in 2012-13 which led to further friction between the boards.

PCB will only lose money if they are paying him

I expect some agreement will be reached between PCB and Mickey, as I doubt Mickey wants to work at the NCA.

 

[Farah Sohail]

PCB will only lose money if they are paying him

I expect some agreement will be reached between PCB and Mickey, as I doubt Mickey wants to work at the NCA.

So PCB are not paying him as yet? Thats so wrong..
on what basis can PCB and Mickey reach an agreement? If Mickey doesnt want to work at NCA..Will PCB be ready to offer him coaching role with Pak team again? And what abt Grant Bradburn.. i think he was most hard done by PCB. He was with team full time, and seemed to have the right mindset..just he needed to be more strict with players and he would be much better than Hafeez

 

[Savak]

PCB will only lose money if they are paying him

I expect some agreement will be reached between PCB and Mickey, as I doubt Mickey wants to work at the NCA.

Mickey has to work and earn that money. The PCB should not give it to him for free. There is nothing wrong with working at the NCA and with Pakistan's junior cricketers, it should be easier in comparison to working with the senior team. Mickey is only exposing himself here in this episode.

 

[BunnyRabbit]

PCB will only lose money if they are paying him

I expect some agreement will be reached between PCB and Mickey, as I doubt Mickey wants to work at the NCA.

It's weird that with an existing contract, employees aren't being paid. It's being handled in the worst way possible.

 

[Junaids]

Mickey has to work and earn that money. The PCB should not give it to him for free. There is nothing wrong with working at the NCA and with Pakistan's junior cricketers, it should be easier in comparison to working with the senior team. Mickey is only exposing himself here in this episode.

The Brazilian Football Federation (CBF) is negotiating with the Italian Carlo Ancelotti for him to take over the national team in June.

What do you imagine would happen if, like in Pakistan, there was a change in the administration and they demote Ancelloti to work with the Under-17s?

The CBF would be viewed as a disgrace and laughing stock, and their jobs would be impossible to fill for years to come.

Right now the PCB is bringing itself and the country into disrepute by its outrageous treatment of Mickey Arthur. And under British/Australian/New Zealand employment law the PCB has committed Constructive Dismissal - it has basically humilated its employee to try to drive him away. The usual punishment for that is that it should pay out his entire contract and release him from his duties, and the PCB should be fined a punitive amount of money to discourage it from doing it ever again.

 

[Saj]

High quality overseas appointments will become more and more difficult for the PCB especially regarding senior roles and long term contracts.

The lack of stability and security in such roles means many will not be interested.

 

[the Great Khan]

Uneducated societies produce Uneducated people. But we are worse. We produce Uneducated arrogant people who think they r geniuses

 

[BaankeJi]

High quality overseas appointments will become more and more difficult for the PCB especially regarding senior roles and long term contracts.

The lack of stability and security in such roles means many will not be interested.

How about Ajay Jadeja - Will PCB be interested in giving any role to him?

 

[MenInG]

Pakistan did everything except what Mickey asked!

 

[Saj]

How about Ajay Jadeja - Will PCB be interested in giving any role to him?

Anything is possible with the PCB!

You never know what's going to happen next.

 

[BaankeJi]

Anything is possible with the PCB!

You never know what's going to happen next.

I hope Ajay Jadeja is roped in some capacity. He has a sharp analytical mind. Will certainly benefit PCT.

 

[Saj]

Would the team have been stronger with Mickey in charge in Australia instead of Mohammad Hafeez?

 

[MenInG]

VAUGHAN URGES PAKISTAN TO ATTACK

Former English captain Michael Vaughan said it is imperative that Pakistan takes the fight to Australia in order to have a chance of salvaging a success from this tour in Sydney.

Vaughan was impressed with the pluck shown by Pakistan during the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne, highlighting the impact of skipper Shan Masood and keeper Mohammad Rizwan.

He said that Pakistan, which were beaten by 360 runs in Perth and then 79 runs at the MCG, must continue to show aggression against the Australians in the final Test of the series.

“Captaincy is about talking, but sometimes you talk so much that you forget that you have to walk the walk as well. Masood’s certainly done that,” Vaughan told foxsports.com.au


“I think he and Rizwan, who has been a bundle of energy for them. He is someone that I couldn’t believe didn’t play in Perth.

“But to play against this Australian side you need the character and mentality that really has to go. You need players in the dressing room that are willing to puff their chest out and have a pop at Australia.

“If you don’t have that, if you don’t have people who are naturally that way inclined to do that, you’re going to get eaten here.

“I always look at India and they seem to have a fire in the belly when they play here. That’s the way you have to play.

“Somehow when my team comes here in two years time, they have to get that fire, because that is the only way that you can compete with Australia and that means picking players who will have that fire naturally.”

Fox Cricket

 

[MenInG]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1743178195505930522

 

[FearlessRoar]

From Dil Dil Pakistan to Thank You Pakistan

https://twitter.com/x/status/1747986848691958027

 

[The Bald Eagle]

Mickey Arthur expressed his disappointment regarding the ineffectiveness of England spinners in India today.

 

[BouncerGuy]

Mickey looks sad.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1760193912340193680

 

[The Bald Eagle]

Mickey Arthur in a recent interview shared his thoughts on different issues.

With muddy puddles dotted around the outfield at The Incora County Ground, and heavy rain pouring from the darkest of clouds, the cricket season seemed some way off when Derbyshire’s Heritage Officer David Griffin, and Head of Cricket Mickey Arthur, sat down for their now-traditional pre-season chat.

But despite the prevailing weather, the season is just weeks away, and the squad will be shortly travelling to Spain for a brief period of warm weather training. So, with a glance back to the summer of 2023, the World Cup in India, a plethora of departures and arrivals, plus two new captains, there was much to discuss.

Casting our thoughts back to the end of last season, no sooner had the curtain come down on 2023 than you were off to India with Pakistan for the World Cup. While not the success you’d have hoped for, what was the experience like?

I enjoyed it. I felt there was some unfinished business with Pakistan and my driving force was to see another World Cup and to try and win it. I thought it was a really good tournament, and the quality of the cricket was outstanding, and it proved that fifty over cricket still has a place in the international calendar.

The grounds were brilliant. I hadn’t been back to India for four or five years and it was brilliant to see the development of the cricket grounds. Chennai, for example, is now a wonderful stadium.

A fifth-place finish for us probably reflected how we played. We didn’t hit our straps completely; the bowling attack – which I thought would be our strength – didn’t fire on all cylinders, and I guess it was disappointing in terms of the final outcome, but a wonderful experience.

Were you surprised by England’s performances?

Interestingly, when we played Afghanistan – who had just beaten England – their coach, Jonathan Trott, said to me that England were playing like a franchise team, not an international cricket team. It was an interesting assessment, and that’s no slight on England, it’s just that that’s what you can fall into. Your training methods, the way you prepare, are different in franchise cricket compared to an international cricket team. A lot of their players had just come out of playing a lot of Twenty20 cricket and hadn’t played much fifty over cricket and I think that exposed them.

Of course, with such quality players, they were always likely to catch up with the tempo of fifty over cricket, but by the time they did, the competition was over for them.

Returning to your work here; you’ve completed two full seasons now. We saw a massive improvement in 2022, but by your own admission, 2023 wasn’t as good. Can you put your finger on why that was?

In 2022 we got – and I said this in my interview with you last year – 100% in terms of growth and productivity out of the players we had, but it was impossible for the players to improve again that much, so that’s why I expected last year to be a stable year where we grew in different areas – and in some we did – but in others we didn’t. I was very disappointed, for example, not to win a first class match. I felt we got enough runs, although not really quickly enough to give ourselves the best chance to win games by taking twenty wickets. The result was that I felt we needed to regenerate our squad, but I had to wait until contractual positions allowed me to look for players to come in who will fit the brand of cricket that I want us to play.

We’ll return to recruitment shortly, but we did get to the position of an effective one game shootout in the final T20 group game against Worcestershire here at Derby. A win in that game would have seen Derbyshire in the quarter finals with the possibility of qualification for Finals Day. That must have been a disappointment, especially in front of a home crowd here at Derby.

That game was the most disappointing aspect of the season. Despite not winning a first class game, we competed in most. But the game against Worcestershire demonstrated why we needed to regenerate because I felt that in a game we needed to stand up in, we didn’t; everything was on the line with a quarter final as the prize, and we didn’t meet that challenge.

Mickey Arthur interview with David Griffin - Derbyshire County Cricket Club

cricket.derbyshireccc.com

 

[SportsWarrior]

This guy is a conman. Not sure why Pakistanis love him

 

[BouncerGuy]

Mickey's 2nd tenure with Team Pakistan was a disaster. He was nowhere near looking serious about his stint with the team. He just wanted some money from PCB and he got it. I think we should be finding better ones now instead of reverting to him and begging him to join the team. He is done and dusted.