How do you rate the Mickey Arthur-Sarfaraz Ahmed combination?

[MenInG]

To me they seem to gel well and havent really seen any falling out as yet and Mickey really goes out of his way to support Sarfaraz which is fine.

Here are Nasser Hussain's comments



PakPassion.net: What do you make of the duo of Pakistan skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed and the Head Coach Mickey Arthur?

Nasser Hussain: I really like Sarfaraz Ahmed and I like the Sarfaraz Ahmed and Mickey Arthur combination. Mickey has worn his heart on his sleeve and with me working on television I know that any time something emotional is happening on the field or some event is happening in Pakistan cricket during a match I have a producer in my ear saying get the camera on Mickey Arthur for his reaction. Pakistan is a very emotional, cricket-loving nation and what Pakistan need is a street-fighter-type in charge of the team and I mean that in the nicest of ways and Sarfaraz Ahmed is that street-fighter and someone that I would definitely want to go to battle alongside against any opponent. Yes, Sarfaraz Ahmed has made his mistakes and had his misdemeanours and had his critics but I think Sarfaraz Ahmed has got something about him. He could easily have walked away and just been a player, but he has got something about him and in the heat of battle he will not bottle anything. I don't see Sarfaraz Ahmed as a bottler, I see him as a real fighter and the Pakistan fans that I know and have known over the years they want their team to fight, and with Sarfaraz Ahmed and Mickey Arthur you get that fighting spirit in abundance.

http://www.pakpassion.net/ppforum/s...ned-with-at-the-World-Cup-quot-Nasser-Hussain

 

[Mamoon]

Very poor.

Sarfaraz is a dreadful cricketer and does not have the ability to set the benchmark for his players, which is absolutely crucial for a captain.

Mickey has good ideas on paper and seems to understand where he wants to take his team, but he lacks the motivational skills to get the best out of his players and is tactically inept.

Both need to go after the World Cup. Pakistan needs a captain who is first and foremost among the top performers in the team, if not the top performer.

Captaincy skills, leadership, personality, charisma etc. all are important, but they are secondary to making the team on merit and carrying your own weight. Sarfaraz is a failure on all fronts, and I am looking at Babar.

Yes he has his faults, but all things considered he is our best batsman who makes the team on 100% merit and is not going anywhere for 10-15 years.

As coach, we need a tactician who doesn’t botch his strategies and selection over and over again like Mickey. The hack Dean Jones is a popular option but he is not the solution either.

He simply doesn’t have the temperament for international cricket and there is a reason why no country has ever asked him to take charge.

I don’t see any local options, so we will have to go for a foreign coach again. My preference would be a modern player who retired recently but has also shown impressive credentials in the coaching arena.

Someone like Kirsten, Fleming or Ponting would be really good, but the chances of them taking the Pakistan job are extremely slim. Perhaps Andy Flower and Jason Gillespie as well.

 

[Shafi]

Actually Inzi, Micky and Sarfraz are like Moe, Carly and Larry of 3 Great stooges.

 

[pakistani pride]

The combo that masterminded the CT win and in the process gave India an EPIC PHAINTA.

Hopefully WC can be added as well.

 

[Titan24]

Not a good combo and results other than CT 17 prove that. And even CT 17 was due to the brilliance of few players which we are all hoping for to happen in the WC as well. We have literally lost every series except against lower ranked teams. T20 series victories, home test series against Aus and a drawn Eng series are the other highlights of this combo.

All the new players we see is due to the PSL which wasnt available to other coaches as talent filtration mechanism and not due to Mickey as its not like he went to the ground in a domestic game and picked a talent out of nowhere.

Sarfraz was a new captain and he was supported a coach who never really coached a sub continental team, was sacked from his last job and hasnt achieved much in the last decade even in any league.

 

[The_Odd_One]

One of the worst combo of all time. The results speak for themselves. Whitewash after whitewash is totally unacceptable. Couldn’t win test series vs Australia in the UAE. Lost to NZ in Asia after several decades. Couldn’t even qualify for the Asia cup final.

No captain and coach in Pakistan cricket have survived with these kind of results. Mickey is an utter failure even in PSL. He has failed to produce a single player from KK and the team has no strategy, no direction for the future. Sarfraz, in addition, dies not even make the team on merit. He has to be the luckiest Pakistani captain of all time. As far as I remember only him and Azhar were two captains in Pakistan’s history who did not deserve to be there even on the team, let alone captain it.

 

[Markhor]

One of the worst combo of all time. The results speak for themselves. Whitewash after whitewash is totally unacceptable. Couldn’t win test series vs Australia in the UAE. Lost to NZ in Asia after several decades. Couldn’t even qualify for the Asia cup final.

No captain and coach in Pakistan cricket have survived with these kind of results. Mickey is an utter failure even in PSL. He has failed to produce a single player from KK and the team has no strategy, no direction for the future. Sarfraz, in addition, dies not even make the team on merit. He has to be the luckiest Pakistani captain of all time. As far as I remember only him and Azhar were two captains in Pakistan’s history who did not deserve to be there even on the team, let alone captain it.

What are you on about - we beat Australia in October.

 

[Markhor]

Better than Waqar-Azhar combination we had before. That was the blind leading the blind.

 

[Hyperion66]

Sarfaraz is more like a fun loving, good natured neighborhood tau than a professional athlete while Micky is that forever naraz phuphaji you see at every wedding and family functions complaining about everything from kadhai paneer to Obama. This contrast in their attitude and personality is what actually make their chemistry enjoyable for the outsiders.

 

[Abdul]

As the worst ever.

 

[Justcrazy]

No comments.

No way they can be rated , I hope this ends.

Mickey is not suitable for Pakistan.

 

[NoBallZombie]

Very poor.

Sarfaraz is a dreadful cricketer and does not have the ability to set the benchmark for his players, which is absolutely crucial for a captain.

Mickey has good ideas on paper and seems to understand where he wants to take his team, but he lacks the motivational skills to get the best out of his players and is tactically inept.

Both need to go after the World Cup. Pakistan needs a captain who is first and foremost among the top performers in the team, if not the top performer.

Captaincy skills, leadership, personality, charisma etc. all are important, but they are secondary to making the team on merit and carrying your own weight. Sarfaraz is a failure on all fronts, and I am looking at Babar.

Yes he has his faults, but all things considered he is our best batsman who makes the team on 100% merit and is not going anywhere for 10-15 years.

As coach, we need a tactician who doesn’t botch his strategies and selection over and over again like Mickey. The hack Dean Jones is a popular option but he is not the solution either.

He simply doesn’t have the temperament for international cricket and there is a reason why no country has ever asked him to take charge.

I don’t see any local options, so we will have to go for a foreign coach again. My preference would be a modern player who retired recently but has also shown impressive credentials in the coaching arena.

Someone like Kirsten, Fleming or Ponting would be really good, but the chances of them taking the Pakistan job are extremely slim. Perhaps Andy Flower and Jason Gillespie as well.

Mamoon I think your basic premise is faulty when judging Sarfaraz Ahmed. Besides other less important things that you use to judge Sarfaraz such as tone, level of english, personality etc, you do miss out on the fact that he is an all rounder i.e. a wicket keeper who can bat (note I did not say a batsman who can keep). That means his primary role is keeping wickets. Now let us assess his capability using his primary skill. I am comparing him to Dhoni in ODIs only for a few reasons:

1. We all agree that Dhoni has been one of the best keepers around for a consistent period of time.
2. I know you prefer Pakistanis to be compared to current Indian cricketers
3. Only selected ODIs to keep the discussion simple and also because ODI is Sarfaraz's WORSE format (atleast in terms of captaincy).


So Sarfaraz's stats are :



And Dhonis are:



As you can see Sarfaraz is 1.21 vs Dhoni's 1.29, only a difference of 0.08 dismissal per innings. So in conclusion, Sarfaraz is not as bad as you make him to be, although I agree that he needs to do a lot of work on his batting and his tame dismissals recently but that is always going to be his secondary skill. Comparing Babar's primary skill to Sarfaraz's secondary skill is not fair either. That is like comparing Faheem's batting with Babar's batting and vice versa.

I agree with the assessment on Mickey though. I think he bought in a set of fresh ideas and got full authority to implement them and I think this is his highest ceiling. I would still like him to be involved in Pakistan cricket if he is available though because he can inject some professionalism at the grass root levels.

All your mentioned candidates for coaching roles is really just an impossible wishlist and cannot be realistic. None of those would come to coach Pakistan and I am afraid we would fallback on some useless Pakistan ex-cricketers.

 

[NoBallZombie]

Better than Waqar-Azhar combination we had before. That was the blind leading the blind.

OMG that was a nightmare. I remember at the time I was seriously considering giving up on having anything to do with cricket!

 

[Mamoon]

Mamoon I think your basic premise is faulty when judging Sarfaraz Ahmed. Besides other less important things that you use to judge Sarfaraz such as tone, level of english, personality etc, you do miss out on the fact that he is an all rounder i.e. a wicket keeper who can bat (note I did not say a batsman who can keep). That means his primary role is keeping wickets. Now let us assess his capability using his primary skill. I am comparing him to Dhoni in ODIs only for a few reasons:

1. We all agree that Dhoni has been one of the best keepers around for a consistent period of time.
2. I know you prefer Pakistanis to be compared to current Indian cricketers
3. Only selected ODIs to keep the discussion simple and also because ODI is Sarfaraz's WORSE format (atleast in terms of captaincy).

So Sarfaraz's stats are :

View attachment 90852

And Dhonis are:

View attachment 90853

As you can see Sarfaraz is 1.21 vs Dhoni's 1.29, only a difference of 0.08 dismissal per innings. So in conclusion, Sarfaraz is not as bad as you make him to be, although I agree that he needs to do a lot of work on his batting and his tame dismissals recently but that is always going to be his secondary skill. Comparing Babar's primary skill to Sarfaraz's secondary skill is not fair either. That is like comparing Faheem's batting with Babar's batting and vice versa.

I agree with the assessment on Mickey though. I think he bought in a set of fresh ideas and got full authority to implement them and I think this is his highest ceiling. I would still like him to be involved in Pakistan cricket if he is available though because he can inject some professionalism at the grass root levels.

All your mentioned candidates for coaching roles is really just an impossible wishlist and cannot be realistic. None of those would come to coach Pakistan and I am afraid we would fallback on some useless Pakistan ex-cricketers.

Sarfaraz’s primary role is not keeping. It isn’t the 80’s and 90’s anymore. Gilchrist revolutionized the role, WK batsmen have been picked mainly on their batting ability especially in Limited Overs.

In today’s cricket, especially in Limited Overs, hardly any team picks WKs for their glove-work and not batting.

Watling is the best keeper in New Zealand, but Latham plays ODIs because he bats better.

Even a 40 year old Chris Read can still keep better than Buttler and Bairstow, but he hasn’t played for England for over a decade because he can’t bat.

Sri Lanka and West Indies pick their ODI keepers based on their batting ability, and Australia dropped Paine from ODIs because of his poor batting.

India have discarded Saha, a brilliant keeper, for Pant because of the latter’s explosive batting.

Dhoni is who he is today because of his legendary finishing skills with the bat. Even if he was the best WK of all time but was a poor batsman, he wouldn’t have become a legend.

Similarly, even if Sarfaraz becomes the best WK in the world, he will be of no use if he continues his post 2016 batting form.

Your statistical comparison is actually highly misleading and tells us nothing. You can select a WK from Pakistan domestic with no batting ability, play him for a 100 games, and his dismissals per innings will not be much different to someone like Gilchrist, who is widely hailed as the best WK batsman of all time.

Dhoni is levels above Sarfaraz because he averages 50 after 340 ODIs, not because his dismissals per innings ratio is 1.29 compared to Sarfaraz's 1.21. That is completely irrelevant.

Kamran Akmal, AKA the drop machine, has a dismissal per innings ratio of 1.24, which is better than Sarfaraz.

Sangakkara's dismissal per innings ratio stands at 1.26. Do you think the difference between his and Kamran's keeping and their overall utility as players is down to a difference of 0.02 points only?

You pick any two specialist WKs, and you will notice that the difference between their dismissal per innings ratios are very insignificant. The only exceptions are of course part-time WKs, for example Umar Akmal, who might have a ratio of less than 1 although I haven't checked his.

I hope you now realise that this is arguably the most pointless and useless statistical measure when comparing WK batsmen. Even if you don't drop a single catch or miss a single stumping, if you are batting is not good enough, you will be useless.

Sarfaraz is a 31-32 average player in ODIs and that is simply not good enough. We need a WK batsman who can average close to 40 and doesn't hide between 6 batsmen and 4 bowlers, and sends tail-enders like Hasan and Amir ahead of him when the team needs quick runs while he is sitting in the pavilion with his feet up.

 

[FastBowlingAllrounder]

Better than Waqar-Azhar combination we had before. That was the blind leading the blind.

Just when I thought I forgot those days *shudder*.

The Mickey Sarfraz combo was supposed to be good in that Mickey brought a fresh perspective and good ideas while Sarfraz was supposed to be an attacking captain who played to win every game. Yes in the CT the stars aligned for us to win but Sarfraz and Mickey had a new page to begin with but failed to do so and just resorted to sitting on the pavilion and making grumpy faces while our batting collapses.

They need to get their act together before the WC and show us that in this ENG series. Obviously as a die hard Pak fan I am going to be optimistic and say that with all this big talk and the 350 odd total against Kent this is a rejuvenated side however can only truly tell once the Eng series starts (also I believe one of Kent's spinners took 4-40 or something off his 10 so still a little worried...).

 

[topspin]

Terrible combo but not as bad as Waqar and Misbah. The duo were behind the times during the 2010s, when all other sides had adopted the modern brand of cricket. This is epitomised by Misbah's preference for Azhar Ali (who wasn't even part of the ODI squad) to be made captain for the ODI side.

Waqar Younis was a tactical failure during his captaincy days in the early 2000s and will always be, because he's still stuck with the defensive and conservative approach.

 

[The_Odd_One]

What are you on about - we beat Australia in October.

My bad, the drawn test was on my mind which should have been won.