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"No regrets of not going in with another spinner" : Mickey Arthur

Abdullah719

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The Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium pitch could very well play villain in the first Test between Pakistan and Sri Lanka. A cover of grass on the pitch has deceived the 'home team', who selected three pacers in the XI. However, the pitch stayed low and offered less assistance to Pakistani fast bowlers. The spotlight falls on spinners and Sri Lanka have packed three in their side. And the coming days are going to be a test of character for players from both the teams.

"The wicket is not easy to bat. It's getting slower and slower. It's not easy to get runs quickly. We have to wait for the loose ones. It's hotter and when bowlers bowl for longer periods, we will get loose balls. We just need to bat for longer periods. We need to put a big total and then we can think about winning. It doesn't matter if we take time but we can capitalise on later," Karunaratne said, adding that the focus was on getting singles as boundaries were 'hard to come by with a big ground'.

Karunaratne made 93 from 205 balls with only 20 runs coming by way of boundaries.

Asked about a satisfactory first-innings total, he said: "We are looking at 350-400 runs but we have to work hard for that. It is not easy. Dinesh Chandimal and Niroshan Dickwella are playing really well. I don't think Dickwella will struggle on the wicket and will play his natural game. We can put 300-350 runs and later when it's turning, we have Dilruwan Perera, Rangana Herath and can put them (Pakistan) under pressure."

Sri Lanka have three frontline spinners and part-timers to make life difficult for Pakistan.

Talking about Pakistan's lone spinner Yasir Shah, he said: "We are not thinking about one person. We have to play positively. That is what I did last series. I told coach as well that I am attacking him. That is my strength. If I get runs against their main bowler then we have good chance to put them under pressure."

Karunaratne said the team recovered well from the loss of back-to-back wickets. Sri Lanka ended the day on a positive note and have a strategy to tackle Pakistan.

Meanwhile, Pakistan coach Mickey Arthur was confident about team selection and said one spinner for the match was the right call.

"I was disappointed that they took a little bit more grass from the wicket than I wanted to. No regrets of not going in with another spinner. I think we have gone in with what we think our best attack is. The ball got pretty soft and it didn't reverse for us. The two areas where I think we lacked a bit was probably the first six overs today and then the last eight of the day.

Despite three pacers in the playing XI, the South African said spinner Yasir holds the key now. Yasir bowled 34 of the 90 overs on the day.

"Yasir's role in the first innings is just to hold for us. Today he became that striker because there was enough. We were good and okay through those periods of time. If we go bang-bang tomorrow (Friday) morning then we can restrict them under 300, which is going to be good for us," he added.

Arthur said he was impressed with Sri Lanka's play.

"I knew what we are going to get. They have a hell of a lot to prove. They are a bunch of talented cricketers and they would have learnt a lot from that India Test series. We're certainly not taking them lightly and have respect for their talent. They have gone out and shown that today," he noted.

https://www.khaleejtimes.com/wicket-is-getting-slower-runs-difficult-to-get-karunaratne
 
Which means they'll probably go with the same combination in the next Test match.
 
What else can he say? I am sure, if it was any Asian Coach or Misbah/YK Captain PAK would have gone with 4.5 bowlers and 2 specialist spinners; or even 5 specialist bowlers. I can see Yasir bowling another Test in this heat for 75+ overs, which at his fitness & age is extremely risky. And SRL is batting first, which means, he'll do this in 1st 3.5-4 days - atrocious, knob head planning to say the least.
 
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Which means they'll probably go with the same combination in the next Test match.

That's D/N Test, so makes some sense, if so. However, I am not sure how many of these 4 bowlers will survive to play back to back Test.
 
Called it earlier, the grass is legit cosmetic and given SL’s left handlers they should have gone with Bilal asif.

SL also did really when in soaking the pressure
 
Though we should have gone with 2 spinners but i see where he is coming from. Bilal and Asghar aren't any great spinners which they are made out to be. I think they saw it in the nets.
 
A poor decision that may come to cost us. The grass is only there to hold the pitch together, its not going to offer anything for the seamers in the blazing heat of Abu Dhabi.

The pitch is dry, the ball is staying low and there already has been some turn. The surface will break up as the match progresses so two spinners was a must.

The team management have not read the conditions correctly.
 
1st day of a Test and the knives are out for Mickey by supposed "fans".

The circus that is our fan-base is pathetic.
 
Right decision. You just gotta be patient in Abu Dhabi and grind the wickets out. Absolutely nothing happens here.
 
I love how people who haven't been to the stadium in Abu Dhabi know the wicket better than Pakistan team management.
 
The sort of day where they miss a Hafeez-type player who can take a couple of useful wickets and not give many runs away.
 
1st day of a Test and the knives are out for Mickey by supposed "fans".

The circus that is our fan-base is pathetic.

Legitimate criticism doesn't mean "the knives are out" - I've been a staunch defender of Mickey from day 1 as countless posts will attest to.

After 9 Tests in Abu Dhabi on the most lifeless pitch in the UAE we have enough experience to know its not a track that favours seam bowling. Run rates are slow and in the blazing heat in late September you must expect to spend a LONG time in the field. Therefore, you have to pick a bowling attack according to conditions and your side's strengths.

Abbas is a great option for England, West Indies and New Zealand tours where we're either playing with the Dukes ball or in seam-friendly conditions. We know he can bowl accurately and target a batsman's off-stump. But in the UAE on pitches that have less life than the dodo, with Abbas's average speed today at 129kph and bowling with the Kookaburra which does nothing after the first 15 overs - he's not going be very effective. Doesn't mean he's a bad bowler, but these conditions don't suit his style of bowling.

Amir hasn't looked threatening in Tests with the Kookaburra since his return and these conditions don't play to his strengths either.

Two spinners will prevent you from running your seamers into the ground and you reduce workload for Yasir who has to bowl us to victory yet again. If you not going to play a second spinner in these conditions then when are you ?
 
Legitimate criticism doesn't mean "the knives are out" - I've been a staunch defender of Mickey from day 1 as countless posts will attest to.

After 9 Tests in Abu Dhabi on the most lifeless pitch in the UAE we have enough experience to know its not a track that favours seam bowling. Run rates are slow and in the blazing heat in late September you must expect to spend a LONG time in the field. Therefore, you have to pick a bowling attack according to conditions and your side's strengths.

Abbas is a great option for England, West Indies and New Zealand tours where we're either playing with the Dukes ball or in seam-friendly conditions. We know he can bowl accurately and target a batsman's off-stump. But in the UAE on pitches that have less life than the dodo, with Abbas's average speed today at 129kph and bowling with the Kookaburra which does nothing after the first 15 overs - he's not going be very effective. Doesn't mean he's a bad bowler, but these conditions don't suit his style of bowling.

Amir hasn't looked threatening in Tests with the Kookaburra since his return and these conditions don't play to his strengths either.

Two spinners will prevent you from running your seamers into the ground and you reduce workload for Yasir who has to bowl us to victory yet again. If you not going to play a second spinner in these conditions then when are you ?

The problem is they don't have any trust in their second spin options. Asghar is selected based off the hype he created in the first PSL and Asif is not even a top 10 spinner in Pakistan.
 
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The problem is they don't have any trust in their second spin options. Asghar is selected based off the hype he created in the first PSL and Asif is not even a top 10 spinner in Pakistan.

They surely could have selected better spinners if that's the case.
 
No worry guys we just have yasir. And don't forget azhar and haris are also part time spinners.
 
I saw first 3-4 overs of the match and there was some swing not much. However, there was no bounce on the pitch. This pitch is definately going to take lot of turn from Day 3 onwards, so Pakistan may find itself one spinner short. Maybe Haris Sohail can bowl few overs of spin and see if he gets some purchase.
 
Right decision. You just gotta be patient in Abu Dhabi and grind the wickets out. Absolutely nothing happens here.

You are right nothing happens in UAE but I think Pakistan are over-bowling Yasir Shah.

He bowled 34 overs today :facepalm: He can get injured and whenever a bowler bowls so many his effectiveness also reduces.
 
You are right nothing happens in UAE but I think Pakistan are over-bowling Yasir Shah.

He bowled 34 overs today :facepalm: He can get injured and whenever a bowler bowls so many his effectiveness also reduces.

Yes, that was the stupid part. They could've easily gotten 10 from Haris and Azhar.
 
So what people expected? after the first day of play, he should come out and say yes we made mistake? that can bring down morale of rest of the bowlers. Learning for Sarfi and him, we 'll play another spinner next game. For this game lets concentrate and get SL out cheaply and pile up some runs. I am more worried about yasir being over bowled and we may lose him for next test. Yasir anyways on the border line of the passing marks for the fitness test
 
Legitimate criticism doesn't mean "the knives are out" - I've been a staunch defender of Mickey from day 1 as countless posts will attest to.

After 9 Tests in Abu Dhabi on the most lifeless pitch in the UAE we have enough experience to know its not a track that favours seam bowling. Run rates are slow and in the blazing heat in late September you must expect to spend a LONG time in the field. Therefore, you have to pick a bowling attack according to conditions and your side's strengths.

Abbas is a great option for England, West Indies and New Zealand tours where we're either playing with the Dukes ball or in seam-friendly conditions. We know he can bowl accurately and target a batsman's off-stump. But in the UAE on pitches that have less life than the dodo, with Abbas's average speed today at 129kph and bowling with the Kookaburra which does nothing after the first 15 overs - he's not going be very effective. Doesn't mean he's a bad bowler, but these conditions don't suit his style of bowling.

Amir hasn't looked threatening in Tests with the Kookaburra since his return and these conditions don't play to his strengths either.

Two spinners will prevent you from running your seamers into the ground and you reduce workload for Yasir who has to bowl us to victory yet again. If you not going to play a second spinner in these conditions then when are you ?

I find it amusing when things don't go our way the coach is to blame. When we win, it's the captain, it's Inzi and even on some occasions it's Sethi that are credited with applause.

Maybe we as fans can all state everyone involved is to blame and move on because it's pretty tiresome how we blame one, and not the others. The circle of Pakistani fans life.
 
the grass dies in the UAE heat no moisture in the soil and the grass browns.

At best u will get day 1 morning session the ball will seam but after that it wont assist seamers at all.

It doesnt reverse as much because UAE soil is quite sandy and not as hard and abrasive as what u get in Pakistan so ball doesnt get scuffed up.

It will start spinning more on day 4 and 5 but only Yasir will be there to exploit it.
 
see the difference between Misbah and sarfraz :)

Already saw that twice.

First, when Sarfraz scored a 100 in only his second WC match which Misbah could not manage in his entire ODI career.

Second, when Sarfraz lifted the CT.
 
Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq and Babar Azam can fill the void in middle order: Mickey Arthur

Pakistan are playing Sri Lanka in the first Test of the two-match series in Abu Dhabhi. Sri Lanka rode on Dimuth Karunaratne’s 93 to make a comeback after being reduced to 61/3. Pakistan coach Mickey Arthur said that he doesn’t really regret the decision of playing one spinner in this match.


“I was disappointed that they took a little bit more of grass of the wicket than I wanted to take. No regrets of not going in with another spinner. I think we have gone in with what we think is our best attack,” Arthur said

“The ball got pretty soft and it didn’t reverse for us. All and all I would say we held us pretty well today. The two areas where I think we lacked a bit was probably the first six overs today and then the last eight of the day. The two booking parts of the day I felt we were very average and that was disappointing as that’s when we had the new ball. I think between that we did some good things and we managed to control the rate which gives us another crack tomorrow.”

Yasir Shah bagged two Sri Lankan wickets on first day of the Test match.”I think there was enough there for Yasir to attack and he has done that. Yasir’s role in the first innings is just to hold for us. Today he became that striker because there was enough. We were good and okay through those periods of time. If we go bang bang tomorrow morning then we can restrict them under 300 which is going to be good for us,” Arthur said.

“Once we had a message out after two overs he certainly improved and hit the back hard and he got his pace back. He hit areas and I think the key to wickets is to keep hitting areas. What we didn’t do earlier on was that we saw a little bit of grass and we thought we can float the ball around and let the ball do the rest. You still got to be banging and hitting the areas hard. Then I thought we adjusted well and got our lines straight. Amir did some good stuff in the middle as well.”

Pakistan have certainly gone into a transition period after Misbah-ul-Haq and Younis Khan bid adieu to the game but the coach feels that his side does consist of players who take up the responsibility.

“You lose two fantastic players you will need some time but I’m confident we got the quality to make that transition fairly easy,” he said. “If we have a look at our middle order now, I know Azhar Ali has had a phenomenal last year in Test cricket and been quite brilliant,” he said.

Moreover, Arthur suggested that players like Asad Shafiq and Babar Azam are good and he expects them to fill up the voids.

“Asad Safiq is a very good player and so is Babar Azam. Those are the three guys I expect to fill the boots in terms of the runs. Between them we got the opening pair whom I’m hoping goes well. Sami Aslam has played well and Shan Masood is there in the whereabouts and he needs on innings to break through. Harris Sohail I think is a good player and we need to take our time with them and make them grow because Test cricket is tough,” he added.

http://indianexpress.com/article/sp...e-void-in-middle-order-mickey-arthur-4866626/
 
How about now Arthur? If you don't regret it even now then Pakistan is in bigger trouble.
 
PAK will injure Yasir if he keeps bowling like this.
 
but herath did that too 61 out of 209
1st inning - 40 out of 162
2nd inning - 21 out of 47

Bowling 29% of total overs is high, bowling 39% of total overs are lot higher. Those extra 10% can have a huge impact on bowlers. With 4 bowlers and some part timers, you can't have one bowler bowling 40% of overs when match is going for 5 days.
 
He is correct, Yasir Shah had pretty much done the job in this test match even after Amir underperformed. Yasir Shah, Haris,etc.. restricted Sri Lanka to a gettable target of 130+ can't expect more than this on such a slow pitch.
 
He is regretting it now 2 spinners is a given on UAE wickets where spinners win more matches than fast bowlers.
 
He is correct, Yasir Shah had pretty much done the job in this test match even after Amir underperformed. Yasir Shah, Haris,etc.. restricted Sri Lanka to a gettable target of 130+ can't expect more than this on such a slow pitch.

It's always better to chase 30 runs and not 130. It's even better to not have to chase anything and win.
 
It's always better to chase 30 runs and not 130. It's even better to not have to chase anything and win.

Given this top order of Pakistan and their dismal record since 2014 of not chasing anything above 38 runs in 4th innings, it would've been lot better that Sri Lanka somehow batted the day to save the match for Pakistan.
It was Yasir Shah vs Sri Lanka mostly and he delivered.
 
Bowling 29% of total overs is high, bowling 39% of total overs are lot higher. Those extra 10% can have a huge impact on bowlers. With 4 bowlers and some part timers, you can't have one bowler bowling 40% of overs when match is going for 5 days.

Yasir is 31 years old while Herath is 39
i am not saying Yasir is not over bowled or team selection cannot be better but that is not the reason of defeat maybe just a small factor.
IMHO main reason is our awful batting in 2nd inning. pakistani batsmen suppose to be good in these conditions.
 
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