The many things Mickey Arthur got wrong as Pakistan Head Coach

[Slog]

1. Being tactically inept in Test cricket by refusing to go with Two spinners in UAE.
2. Taking decisions to lose our proud UAE test record and lose a series there to Sri Lanka of all teams.
3. Taking team which was #1 in Tests shortly after his appointment to the depths it is today.
4. Making our ODI bowling a joke where conceding 330+ is commonplace. Heck he managed to get record for most runs conceded in an ODI ever
5. Making insane facepalm worthy comparisons of Babar with Kohli, Shafiq either Tendulkar, Shaheen with Starc among others thereby putting unnecessary pressure.
6. Not being honest to one job by having two high paying jobs (PSL and national team) ensuring that raking in $$$ takes precedence over focusing on the team.
7. Failing to develop promising youngsters
8. Overseeing decline of bowlers such as Hasan Ali and Shaheen who had been so promising upon introduction but have only regressed with time in national setup with Mickey and Azhar leading their development

An initial list

Mods please don’t protect Mickey and let this stay

 

[Slog]

There’s a reason why this guy got fired from two previous national team jobs despite the immense talent he had at his disposal

 

[Cric1234]

Poor Mickey he's being made to select Malik pick spinners who clearly aren't working pick Hasan when he's clearly out of form turn the side into amateur fielders all while getting 5 star treatment and getting paid decent money by Pakistan.

Then again there's no other coach out there who could do better than hapless Mickey.

 

[Slog]

Poor Mickey he's being made to select Malik pick spinners who clearly aren't working pick Hasan when he's clearly out of form turn the side into amateur fielders all while getting 5 star treatment and getting paid decent money by Pakistan.

Then again there's no other coach out there who could do better than hapless Mickey.

What do you mean he’s being made to pick

He is the strongest coach we ever had in terms of decision making power.

Also he had benefit of psl selections which others didn’t have. Only god knows how our team would have looked without it

 

[Cric1234]

What do you mean he’s being made to pick

He is the strongest coach we ever had in terms of decision making power.

Also he had benefit of psl selections which others didn’t have. Only god knows how our team would have looked without it

I mean it I mean it no sarcasm included.

 

[Slog]

I mean it I mean it no sarcasm included.

Haha sarcasm was obvious. Just annoyed

 

[cririri]

Playing darters over spinners,not having two (real) spinners in asia and playing the so called seniors are his main mistake(not sure the seniors'part is really his fault).
The test team wasn't a number 1 level team anyway,few good schedule and luck made us number 1(for how long??).
Youngsters are improving a lot under this managment:look at babar,imam,fakhar,sharjeel even hasan improved a lot under him and just lose form recently.
Fault is on pak selectors,pak media,pak fans,who are too impatient and ask for the so called seniors after some youngsters fail in few matches even though the seniors are playing for 20 years and are yet to win us anything subsantial.

 

[Pete Rose]

There's nothing a coach can do if selectors and captains wants to waste two spots in a WC squad for malik and hafeez.

 

[unemployedgm]

I said this before and I’ll say this again. Cricket like everything in life is driven by Economics. Prior to becoming the Head Coach of the Pakistan Team, Mickey was contracted to be the coach of the Jamaica Tallawahs. I don’t begrudge him because the amount of money the PCB offered to pay him was too much to turn down. But he was obviously not forthright in the process as I read the news before I heard anything from him or his agent.

His record as Pakistan’s coach speaks for itself. It’s poor. In my opinion he’s an overrated coach and he’s been exposed at international level and the PSL. As a Pakistani my biggest qualm with Mickey would be his failure to face the music when the team is poor.

This is not a good team but there is enough talent in domestic cricket to be consistently competitive while Pakistan rethinks its Structure. That’s on him, inzamam, sarfraz, and the board.

 

[Slog]

There's nothing a coach can do if selectors and captains wants to waste two spots in a WC squad for malik and hafeez.

The coach is Malik’s biggest fan and terms Hafeez as a crucial member. What are you on?

 

[Slog]

I said this before and I’ll say this again. Cricket like everything in life is driven by Economics. Prior to becoming the Head Coach of the Pakistan Team, Mickey was contracted to be the coach of the Jamaica Tallawahs. I don’t begrudge him because the amount of money the PCB offered to pay him was too much to turn down. But he was obviously not forthright in the process as I read the news before I heard anything from him or his agent.

His record as Pakistan’s coach speaks for itself. It’s poor. In my opinion he’s an overrated coach and he’s been exposed at international level and the PSL. As a Pakistani my biggest qualm with Mickey would be his failure to face the music when the team is poor.

This is not a good team but there is enough talent in domestic cricket to be consistently competitive while Pakistan rethinks its Structure. That’s on him, inzamam, sarfraz, and the board.

He basically goes where money is and ideally tries to have two jobs to double income which PCB allowed

 

[Pete Rose]

The coach is Malik’s biggest fan and terms Hafeez as a crucial member. What are you on?

boss you are pretty naive. he says it to pump them up. if you think he truly believes that, then i have a bridge to sell you

 

[Slog]

boss you are pretty naive. he says it to pump them up. if you think he truly believes that, then i have a bridge to sell you

He is genuinely a huge hafeez backer.

Unless he’s called you up and told you personally

 

[Pete Rose]

He is genuinely a huge hafeez backer.

Unless he’s called you up and told you personally

he backs everyone: he backed yk while he hopped around for seven innings like a kangaroo in England in 2014 until he finally got some runs. He backs Azhar Ali who can basically be dismissed by a bouncing tomato. He backs all the players, because like most coaches he wont come out and say "i just want to put it on record that I didnt want these guys here"
by the time this tournament ends he will also have been right about wahab not deserving a place.
he has been right about umar akmal not deserving a place here.
There are three ppl that select the squad and on this tour the same three are selecting the team.

in any case, now that we have one foot out the door, he should put his foot down and bench one if not both of these guys. thats not to say he wont be overruled by sarfaraz and inzi

 

[Slog]

1. Being tactically inept in Test cricket by refusing to go with Two spinners in UAE.
2. Taking decisions to lose our proud UAE test record and lose a series there to Sri Lanka of all teams.
3. Taking team which was #1 in Tests shortly after his appointment to the depths it is today.
4. Making our ODI bowling a joke where conceding 330+ is commonplace. Heck he managed to get record for most runs conceded in an ODI ever
5. Making insane facepalm worthy comparisons of Babar with Kohli, Shafiq either Tendulkar, Shaheen with Starc among others thereby putting unnecessary pressure.
6. Not being honest to one job by having two high paying jobs (PSL and national team) ensuring that raking in $$$ takes precedence over focusing on the team.
7. Failing to develop promising youngsters
8. Overseeing decline of bowlers such as Hasan Ali and Shaheen who had been so promising upon introduction but have only regressed with time in national setup with Mickey and Azhar leading their development

An initial list

Mods please don’t protect Mickey and let this stay

Quick reminder for people having selective amnesia.

 

[Justcrazy]

Tactically he is not that good coach. The reason is that he is very obstinate as coach , and wants to take limelight.

He backs certain players without any reason at all.

 

[Smbhayi]

No.1, for how many days? It was due to India - WI match washed out otherwise they won't reach there.. and I think those times points btw No.1 to 5 isn't huge..

 

[Savak]

He failed to satisfy the PCB Cricket Committee with his presentation and answers to their questions. End off

 

[Mujtaba2900]

No.1, for how many days? It was due to India - WI match washed out otherwise they won't reach there.. and I think those times points btw No.1 to 5 isn't huge..

Dont you think that shows we were head to head Against Best Teams
Pakistan had 111 point while india has 110 points .
Now india has 116 points and All other teams From 2-6 have Only Slight difference in points.
And Mind you in Test Its Not easy To Score even 2 points easily

 

[wrongun]

Head coach is to oversee all tactics, performance & technique + a say in selection.

A) I would add letting a fielding coach who had led Pakistan to its best fielding team ever- to the point it was a positive & winning the odd game, not purely and always a negative vs the opposition effort... letting that coach go & overseeing the slide into the worst catching performance of the WC 2019. Probably cost a spot in the finals alone given NRR loss.

B) From what I can see, Pakistani fans seem to accept it as normal that their coach had no idea od their best players /team gong into the tournament. From an outside perspective, this is a joke on an organisational level.

Imagine you are given TWO YEARS to do a job & select a squad. TWENTY FOUR MONTHS. Yet after you select your final 30, you still need to bring in players from outside it... (why where you THAT wrong!!) and then some players you select (HAsnain) are deemed not good enough to play despite repeated failures of others in their spot. And your best middle order batsman is not selected until after the tournament is lost.

This is a monumental organisational fail. Did you see other teams spend 2 years fine tuning players, roles, tactics with minimal fuss? Pakistan thinks it can turn up on the day & bluff through it with no real preparation vs teams who have spent two years fine tuning players & strategy? Those days are past. Mickey has no ability to do that job.

I'll leave it there. I'm amazed people would have bowed down to accept another term from him when he utterly failed.

 

[ask_analyse_act]

The coach is Malik’s biggest fan and terms Hafeez as a crucial member. What are you on?

Initially he kicked hafeez out but he keeps leaching back after multiple bans and out of form. He successfully got rid of him in test even there hafeez wanted to play his final series and retire just before the important away tours (wasted a spot to try a newbie in UAE)
Apart from Malik and Hafeez, he has did well.
The thing he did wrong was not playing two spinners in UAE which is a big blunder that took the team down to no.6 from no.1 in no time. Next his love for bits and pieces than promoting regular spinners and pacers. He wanted the bowlers to bat a bit. If he continies to be coach there will be less to no chance for grooming any promising bowler who cant bat a bit.

 

[Mamoon]

1. Being tactically inept in Test cricket by refusing to go with Two spinners in UAE.
2. Taking decisions to lose our proud UAE test record and lose a series there to Sri Lanka of all teams.
3. Taking team which was #1 in Tests shortly after his appointment to the depths it is today.
4. Making our ODI bowling a joke where conceding 330+ is commonplace. Heck he managed to get record for most runs conceded in an ODI ever
5. Making insane facepalm worthy comparisons of Babar with Kohli, Shafiq either Tendulkar, Shaheen with Starc among others thereby putting unnecessary pressure.
6. Not being honest to one job by having two high paying jobs (PSL and national team) ensuring that raking in $$$ takes precedence over focusing on the team.
7. Failing to develop promising youngsters
8. Overseeing decline of bowlers such as Hasan Ali and Shaheen who had been so promising upon introduction but have only regressed with time in national setup with Mickey and Azhar leading their development

An initial list

Mods please don’t protect Mickey and let this stay

While Mickey is to be blamed for the atrocious Test cricket in the UAE, the number 1 ranking was also going to plunge after the overseas cycle. No coach was going to prevent series defeats in Australia and South Africa.

 

[shaz619]

While Mickey is to be blamed for the atrocious Test cricket in the UAE, the number 1 ranking was also going to plunge after the overseas cycle. No coach was going to prevent series defeats in Australia and South Africa.

These days there is no one truly dominant away from home regardless, at home you need to keep your dignity and at least you can then call yourself a respectable Test team; if you are a solid Test team at home, chances are you will at least compete away and Pakistan at that time peaked with that great series performance in England, won more sessions but unfortunately didn't come out with the W but it was a fine overseas performance. Mickey has a highly flawed logic of utilising utility performers across the continents and bits/pieces A/R's. I think it is very significant that he spearheaded a decline in UAE Tests and Sarfraz didn't help much either.

 

[Slog]

While Mickey is to be blamed for the atrocious Test cricket in the UAE, the number 1 ranking was also going to plunge after the overseas cycle. No coach was going to prevent series defeats in Australia and South Africa.

Yes but I genuinely think we had a team to win in NZ. That NZ side wasn’t much and we should have atleast draw the second test

 

[Savak]

In my view, if mickey was shown the door, sarfaraz should also be shown the door. Just blaming the coach alone is not fair. Mickey did call for the PCB to remove Sarfaraz

 

[Artaxerxes]

Pakistan domestic cricket is not producing good players due to various reasons.A coach can not do anything if the team is full of mediocre plays.A coach studies the opposition and devises a strategy to win games.He is not there to polish player 's skills.

 

[Snowflake]

1. Being tactically inept in Test cricket by refusing to go with Two spinners in UAE.
2. Taking decisions to lose our proud UAE test record and lose a series there to Sri Lanka of all teams.
3. Taking team which was #1 in Tests shortly after his appointment to the depths it is today.
4. Making our ODI bowling a joke where conceding 330+ is commonplace. Heck he managed to get record for most runs conceded in an ODI ever
5. Making insane facepalm worthy comparisons of Babar with Kohli, Shafiq either Tendulkar, Shaheen with Starc among others thereby putting unnecessary pressure.
6. Not being honest to one job by having two high paying jobs (PSL and national team) ensuring that raking in $$$ takes precedence over focusing on the team.
7. Failing to develop promising youngsters
8. Overseeing decline of bowlers such as Hasan Ali and Shaheen who had been so promising upon introduction but have only regressed with time in national setup with Mickey and Azhar leading their development

An initial list

Mods please don’t protect Mickey and let this stay

Quite a redundant and unsubstantial list, tbh.

#1 and #2 are essentially the same point.
#3 Which coach has ever prevented a foreign tour defeat especially in Aus or SA?
#4 330+ is commonplace in world cricket. Nothing to do with Mickey. If anything, the ODI team is in a better place compared to what he got to work with.
#5 Trivial
#6 PCBs domain
#7 Played more youngster than any previous coach. Got rid of many TTFs. You'll realize this once we see all the oldies make a comeback in the upcoming regime.
#8 Shaheen has not regressed. For Hassan, he himself and Azhar need to get a greater blame than Mickey.

 

[Titan24]

Quite a redundant and unsubstantial list, tbh.

#1 and #2 are essentially the same point.
#3 Which coach has ever prevented a foreign tour defeat especially in Aus or SA?
#4 330+ is commonplace in world cricket. Nothing to do with Mickey. If anything, the ODI team is in a better place compared to what he got to work with.
#5 Trivial
#6 PCBs domain
#7 Played more youngster than any previous coach. Got rid of many TTFs. You'll realize this once we see all the oldies make a comeback in the upcoming regime.
#8 Shaheen has not regressed. For Hassan, he himself and Azhar need to get a greater blame than Mickey.

Regarding #7 as I posted in other threads as well, youngsters came in because of PSL and Mickey using it as the sole benchmark to select players. If there would have been no PSL the players you are referring to as youngsters would have only made it to Pak team in their mid 20s maybe.

So Mickey had an edge with available resources and filtering mechanism which other coaches didnt have.

From domestics has he handpicked any youngster? No because just like many previous coaches he doesnt do his job to look at domestic players and their performances, he just got lucky because he got the help from PSL otherwise we might have been seeing same players as previous regimes.

 

[Titan24]

Pakistan domestic cricket is not producing good players due to various reasons.A coach can not do anything if the team is full of mediocre plays.A coach studies the opposition and devises a strategy to win games.He is not there to polish player 's skills.

Playing 3 pacers in UAE against Srl when they were playing 3 spinners was a blunder which is inexcusable for an international coach irrespective of whether you are coaching top team like Ind or a struggling team like Zim. This is just an example of his lack of basic tactical skills, he has made many such blunders which just required basic cricketing sense from his part.

If I remember in 2015 English team was also said by many that they dont have players coming through for white ball cricket etc. Look at how much change it was from Peter Moores’ to Bayliss’ era. Not a comparison rather just putting light on that how much tactics, planning and strategy can influence a cricket team just like any other sport.

 

[Snowflake]

Regarding #7 as I posted in other threads as well, youngsters came in because of PSL and Mickey using it as the sole benchmark to select players. If there would have been no PSL the players you are referring to as youngsters would have only made it to Pak team in their mid 20s maybe.

So Mickey had an edge with available resources and filtering mechanism which other coaches didnt have.

From domestics has he handpicked any youngster? No because just like many previous coaches he doesnt do his job to look at domestic players and their performances, he just got lucky because he got the help from PSL otherwise we might have been seeing same players as previous regimes.

Fair point. However, regardless of how he got the youngsters, he did provide them with a very long rope which is unheard of in Pak cricket. He stuck with the core group through thick and thin which tells you that he did not fail to develop promising youngsters, as the OP stated.

Imam, Hassan, Shadab, Faheem, Shaheen all got a solid run in the team and we cannot take that away from Mickey.

 

[RedwoodOriginal]

Lol Mickey may have had a major hand in the Sri Lanka series loss but what about the New Zealand series or the drawn test against Australia? Could have easily reinstated our dominance in UAE but the utter incompetence of this frankly incompetent test team made us lose a series we should have won easily, draw a game we should have won easily.

 

[Savak]

Mickeys output did not warrant an extension. He was given every opportunity to present his case and to defend himself in front of the PCB Cricket Committee but he failed to impress them with his presentation and answers to their questions.

This brown Saab culture among desis is pathetic ie just reinstate mickey because he is a ****, reinstate him because the alternatives are not ****, if the team can get back on track under the coaching of Mohsin Khan then so be it but no need to reinstate Mickey undeservedly, he had his chance and did not deliver

 

[Titan24]

Fair point. However, regardless of how he got the youngsters, he did provide them with a very long rope which is unheard of in Pak cricket. He stuck with the core group through thick and thin which tells you that he did not fail to develop promising youngsters, as the OP stated.

Imam, Hassan, Shadab, Faheem, Shaheen all got a solid run in the team and we cannot take that away from Mickey.

Agreed. I have always been of the opinion that Mickey was good at player development but at international level you are also expected to produce consistent results otherwise pressure starts to increase. Mickey can be ideal at junior levels as more than the results you need players to be developed but his lack of tactics, strategies, adaptability and sometimes even basic cricketing sense would have always made him struggle at international level. He struggles to adapt according to teams and conditions and that is why his only memorable success is SA where he knew everything regarding cricket culture, domestics and local pitches.

His appointment also made Aus realize they need someone who knows Australian cricket as methods of Mickey were different than what they were used to and Mickey didnt adapt well. Same thing happened in his stint with Pak as well and made PCB realize they need someone who knows Pak cricket.

Though Mickey was able to get a few fans in Pak with the influx of few youngsters which werent even discovered by him and only came into limelight due to T20 league and that changed the outlook of the team which many people try to associate with coaching abilities of Mickey.

 

[Hawkeye]

Why brother [MENTION=138463]Slog[/MENTION] hasn't been awarded POTW yet? :Usman

This is a brilliant, fact based post, and avoids getting impressed from Arthur just because he has an angrezi name, can speak great English.

Mickey Arthur brought us down. We were going nowhere, tactically inept especially in Tests, and rumors of grouping, clashes within the team.

His sacking would be a blessing.

 

[Markhor]

Like Fox News's tagline, a fair, balanced and neutral perspective

These tired talking points from OP have been debunked repeatedly.

1) We went with two spinners vs NZL and still lost because Captain Fantastic once again failed to bat responsibly and finish a routine chase in 1st Test.

2) See above - another bottled chase in Abu Dhabi by Sarfraz.

3) Yes because our record was never going to be dented by touring England twice, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa in a three year cycle all while losing two batting stalwarts...

4) Again, no basis in fact. Against the other top 10 ODI sides, Mickey has a better bowling average and ER than his predecessor.

5) It's called giving confidence to your players.

6) Take it up with PCB, Inzamam had a role with LQ too.

7) A blatant lie ! We went into 2019 WC with a squad with an average age of 23, the youngest of all teams IIRC. Babar, Shaheen, Imam, Fakhar, Shadab, Hasan all developed under his watch.

8) Yes Shaheen has regressed big time. What did he even do in his last international performance ?! Oh he got on the Lord's honours board taking a 6-fer...

Other than that, agree with every word !

 

[Markhor]

Quite a redundant and unsubstantial list, tbh.

#1 and #2 are essentially the same point.
#3 Which coach has ever prevented a foreign tour defeat especially in Aus or SA?
#4 330+ is commonplace in world cricket. Nothing to do with Mickey. If anything, the ODI team is in a better place compared to what he got to work with.
#5 Trivial
#6 PCBs domain
#7 Played more youngster than any previous coach. Got rid of many TTFs. You'll realize this once we see all the oldies make a comeback in the upcoming regime.
#8 Shaheen has not regressed. For Hassan, he himself and Azhar need to get a greater blame than Mickey.

A brilliant post.