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"I don’t think you’ve ever coached till you’ve coached an Asian team" : Mickey Arthur

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"I don’t think you’ve ever coached till you’ve coached an Asian team" : Mickey Arthur

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan national team coach Micky Arthur said in a recent interview that his experience with Pakistan has been ‘fantastic’. “I love this job with them. I don’t think you’ve ever coached till you’ve coached an Asian team,” Arthur was quoted as saying.

“The backing I have received form the PCB is second to none. They have allowed me to do what I want to do for the best. I really think that we are on the right track. I am loving this Pakistan job,” Arthur said while discussing his experience of coaching the Pakistan cricket team. Talking about why he chose to coach an international team rather than a T20 league team,

Arthur said: “When you are coaching an international team, you are running a programme for 12 months of the year. You get to influence peoples’ careers.” He added: “The public following is so huge. We have 200 million people in Pakistan watching everything that is happening to the Pakistan cricket team – that stimulates me.

When you run an international programme, that’s where you make a significant contribution towards the game. I love coaching internationally because I can develop people, but it’s hard to do that in the T20 environment,” Arthur said, expressing his love for ODI cricket.

Discussing the difference between an Asian team and a Western cricket team, Arthur said that the passion, excitement and skill found in the Asian region was amazing, adding: “This is something that went through my mind after the Test series against Sri Lanka … everything is opposite in the sub-continent. It challenges you as a coach. Being a coach of a Western team – like the South African team or the Australia team – we always win games with our pace. The game is quite faster to start with and then slows down,”

Arthur explained. Talking about the recent debacle Pakistan faced in Test matches against Sri Lanka, Arthur explained, “We are trying to get the right balance in terms of our Test team. We haven’t quite got it right as yet maybe. I love rebuilding teams. We have to rebuild the Test team now.

Our Test team is at a stage where our ODI team was a year ago. When you lose Misbahul Haq and Younus Khan, you are losing so much experience and so many runs. We have to get the balance right,” he added.

Admitting the Pakistan team’s lack of skill when it comes to fielding, Arthur said that he was working with the boys to improve their technique. “The good thing is the guys are having fun doing fielding drills. They are really enjoying their fielding. I think sometimes – excuse my words – Asian teams tend to see fielding as chill while batting and bowling are seen as the real skill,”

he said. “Now we are putting so much emphasis [on fielding] because that’s the only thing we do together. When you play a game of cricket, you know you are going to field. By doing it over and over, you become more skillful and athletic,” Arthur said while talking about his plans for the team’s

Reminiscing about the team’s recent triumphs in the field, Arthur said: “When Shadab Khan dived at cover point in the World XI series or when he chased the ball down and when Ahmed Shehzad took a blinder, the crowd were over the moon – that’s what fielding does to a team.

” He said: “You can see the enjoyment the boys are having on the field. They are throwing themselves down.”

https://dailytimes.com.pk/133341/coaching-pakistan-team-pleasant-experience-says-arthur/
 
Well that is good to hear, but you have a couple of favourites who probably don’t deserve to be in playing eleven all the time.
 
We have 200 million people in Pakistan watching everything that is happening to the Pakistan cricket team – that stimulates me.

:afridi :))

I am glad he is taking his job like that and also he must develop thicker skin when 200m people start criticizing him! XD
 
Seems pretty passionate its a good thing... And some what he did agree on the mistake of not playing 2 spinners rather giving an excuse.
 
Arthur has been a superb coach. What's been particularly impressive is the way he's backed and developed young talent. The likes of Shadab Khan, Rumman Raees, Usman Shinwari, Faheem Ashraf, Babar Azam and Hasan Ali have come on leaps and bounds under his coaching.

Fitness and fielding has massively improved whilst the tactics in limited overs matches have been spot on. The results in LOIs speak for themselves.

Test team needs rebuilding but I'm confident Arthur can recover our position in that format too. Onwards and upwards !
 
1 spinner in the UAE :yk2 maybe they shouldn't let you do what you want! Even Waqar Younis was a sharper tool, if only the PSL coincided with his reign then he could also take credit for the limited overs sucess and introduction of all these fiesty youngsters. On the other hand, the likes of Inzi/Mickey really prefer shehzad and masood calibre players
 
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Mickey Arthur is probably the best thing to happen to Pakistan cricket [alongwith Sarfraz Ahmed] since the 90s.
Had a slightly different perception about him but the way he transformed this young, inexperienced [somewhat partially isolated from intl. cricket] with an awful political culture into world-beaters is simply incredible.

One can check out articles related to Pakistan cricket team, cricinfo used to make titles how Pakistan's losses, the dropped 3 or 4 catches in every match. Pakistani media used Pakistan cricket internal fights (politics) as their ratings' generator. PCB corruption, Umar Akmal's altercations, Waqar Younis arguments with others, Dressing room exchanges were leaked to the media, apart from cricket everything was made news and mocked about. No cricket at home, politics and certain players keeping their place in the team, had Pakistan cricket in a complete disarray.
Mickey Arthur image as a successful coach [For RSA and Aust.] took a beating after the 'homework' controversy in India where 4 players were suspended. This became an ever bigger controversy with Australian media and board. Cricket Australia dumped him before Ashes in 2013, and he was absent on international scene barring short coaching stints for T20 teamsin BPL and PSL.
This coming-together could make a great movie about 2 opposite entities who both had a tough recent-past but came together and brought smile and joy to millions, not only across Pakistan but in distant countries like Nepal, Bangladesh and Canada [CT win].

Check highlights of Pakistan tour to NZ in Jan 2016 and the recent 2nd T20 between Pakistan and Sri Lanka, this is only a year and half apart, check the fielding and fitness of Pakistan players also credit to Rixon], who were known for being awful in both these departments in their complete history.

Mickey Arthur real strength of character was proven when he send back a player[Umar Akmal] on tour for failing fitness test, this is something no local Pakistani coach would ever have done. He took on 2 more stronger entities the chief selector and a player [in team for 8 years due to his strong political connections], he would've been out of the job sooner [if Pakistan was knocked out of CT].

Arthur is a really strong character. He is aggressive and sometimes abrasive. Builds around successful captaincies like Graeme smith and has falling out with them also in order to get things done for team to win.I can't imagine anyone who could've rectified the many ailments of Pakistan cricket apart from him.

Still there are lot of problems, Arthur and Sarfraz have to deal with the deep nepotism, favoritism and biases of the Pakistani system.
Test team is still losing.
The seniors [Hafeez, Malik, Shehzad, Akmals, Wahab Riaz] with help of Inzamam [Chief selector] will remain a roadblock in rebuilding and making a dream team where there are atleast 2 players contesting for every position in the Pakistan team.
Wherever seniors dominate and not allowing youngsters to replace [like batting] remains a tough challenge, inducting enough youngsters to perform to get a place in the team is also tougher task,

but hopeful Arthur & Sarfraz will be able to overcome.
 
Mickey is a good coach and seem to have instilled the confidence within this team. We do appear to have good mixture of youth and experience within the team. I still cannot believe why he did not choose to play 2 spinners against Sri Lanks but I guess he is learning. Although our batting is a bit of concern when chasing big totals, our bowling have been bailing us out. Real challenge will be against New Zealand, South Africa, Australia & England in the next year or so. After this, one can conclude if he has built a sound team or not.
 
We need to hang on to Mickey for as long as we can, he is an excellent coach, and results speak for themselves, youngsters succeed in test cricket with time, in ODI cricket they can make a direct impact, that is why our ODI results are better.

Wait a year and we'll improve in tests.
 
Good coach for LOI, garbage for Tests. Hope he learns from his mistakes and doesn't be his stubborn self.
 
The reason why Mickey refused to play a second spinner in the UAE was because the back up spinners in the squad failed to impress in the nets and apparently they weren't going to trouble a good spin playing country like Sri Lanka.
 
The reason why Mickey refused to play a second spinner in the UAE was because the back up spinners in the squad failed to impress in the nets and apparently they weren't going to trouble a good spin playing country like Sri Lanka.
A good spin playing country like SL gave 3 wickets to part-timer in 1 over. As bad as Asghar would have been, he would have picked up a few wickets.
 
The reason why Mickey refused to play a second spinner in the UAE was because the back up spinners in the squad failed to impress in the nets and apparently they weren't going to trouble a good spin playing country like Sri Lanka.

Good spin playing country that gave wickets to Asad Shafiq and Haris Sohail LMAO
 
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