Two years of Mickey Arthur's aggressive cricket talk

[Savak]

He has been in the role for 2 years now and it is fair enough time to judge his progress.

For me he talks well and good about playing an aggressive brand of cricket with that bat, but apart from Sharjeel, Fakhar's, Asif Ali and Faheem Ashraf's selection, he has been selecting players like Azhar Ali, Imam ul Haq, Babar Azam, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Shoaib Malik. Other teams have players who for the most part operate their innings at a SR of 90 and accelerate to 100-120 plus while our accumulators start of at a SR of 60-70 and if they survive luckily they will take their SR to 80-90 at the end which is not good enough.

On the tour to England in 2016 he talked about the bowling attack needing to keep the run rate and economy under check if wickets aren't coming but even that is missing in the team.

For me he just comes across as a very reactive coach rather than a proactive coach, he hasn't selected, tested and groomed the right players in the games against Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe.

 

[Mamoon]

Where can Mickey find these players if they do not exist in Pakistan? He cannot buy them off Amazon.

He is working with the players that are present in Pakistan. He cannot do much when they are not capable of delivering. No coach in the world can create talent and ability. Relative to the top players in the world, our players lack both in abundance.

 

[Badsha]

He has done alright to be honest.

Remember we could have been playing U Akmal, K Akmal with Hafeez opening.. same old same old. We are at least trying new stuff, new batsmen, new bowlers.

I understand the disappointment today but India is an incredible side right now.

 

[iiqbal]

The first role of coach is to give game plan, where is game plan.
Where is bowling plan to take 10 wickets.

 

[Boi]

His infatuation with bits and pieces cricketers like Shadab, Nawaz and Imad needs to stop. Select specialist spinners fgs. Already cost us a Test series with his stupid tactics.

 

[Major]

Where can Mickey find these players if they do not exist in Pakistan? He cannot buy them off Amazon.

He is working with the players that are present in Pakistan. He cannot do much when they are not capable of delivering. No coach in the world can create talent and ability. Relative to the top players in the world, our players lack both in abundance.

mamoon, mickey arthur himself is a jokrr

Is Arthur really that dumb taht he doesn't know UAE is a spinners paradise. ALl teams have to do is score 250 on such wicekts and put the spinners on.

Even with this 230ish score, Pakistan could had given a fight if they had good spinners.

Inzi, Sarfraz and Mickey took 6 pacers! 6 pacers!!!!! 6 pacers for UAE!!!!! GOd dammit.

What else do you expect if these guys have such brains.

If Pakistan wants to win games, then its time we start playing accoriding to the conditions. Problem is the current selection comititee has guys like Inzi who look at cricket from a traditionalist view that Oh India fast bowling sey darti hai........... Even in UAE or Faisalabad, Inzi would only play 1 spinner. THat was his mentality, and now his mentality is back in our team. ANd Sarfraz is a dummy captain, guy has played cricekt in karachi his whole life. Karachi has spin wicekts, doesnt this guy know? He should know how similar those wicekts are to UAE and hence should use his knowledge their aswell.

Thing is, its not about talent or ability. Its about playing according to the conditions.

Look at Afghanistan, it has crappy batsmen, but they have 4-5 spinners that helps them in defending scores of 250

 

[Muhammad Saad]

He has done his job admirably, pulling out the best from a mediocre lot.

 

[Hasan123]

Arthur is trying his best to improve players and is giving them a defined role.

1 thing I do blame him for is not selecting specialist spinners. A spinner should never be selected for his batting ability 1st especially in the UAE.

 

[Mamoon]

mamoon, mickey arthur himself is a jokrr

Is Arthur really that dumb taht he doesn't know UAE is a spinners paradise. ALl teams have to do is score 250 on such wicekts and put the spinners on.

Even with this 230ish score, Pakistan could had given a fight if they had good spinners.

Inzi, Sarfraz and Mickey took 6 pacers! 6 pacers!!!!! 6 pacers for UAE!!!!! GOd dammit.

What else do you expect if these guys have such brains.

If Pakistan wants to win games, then its time we start playing accoriding to the conditions. Problem is the current selection comititee has guys like Inzi who look at cricket from a traditionalist view that Oh India fast bowling sey darti hai........... Even in UAE or Faisalabad, Inzi would only play 1 spinner. THat was his mentality, and now his mentality is back in our team. ANd Sarfraz is a dummy captain, guy has played cricekt in karachi his whole life. Karachi has spin wicekts, doesnt this guy know? He should know how similar those wicekts are to UAE and hence should use his knowledge their aswell.

Thing is, its not about talent or ability. Its about playing according to the conditions.

Look at Afghanistan, it has crappy batsmen, but they have 4-5 spinners that helps them in defending scores of 250

I agree that Mickey has made some mistakes and often misreads the conditions. He also needs to cop some blame for putting too much faith in bits and pieces nobodies like Shadab and Faheem. However, even the specialist players are not delivering.

 

[Dr_Bassim]

Mickey can ask the players to be aggressive.

But if the players suffer from enuresis at the sight of the blue kit, or play at a constipated pace for 35 overs in 2 consecutive matches, with plenty of fans clapping at their sound approach, there is not much Arthur can do.

In fact, he can just watch them make fool out of themselves and he does exactly that.

I doubt he will renew his contract.

 

[Savak]

Where can Mickey find these players if they do not exist in Pakistan? He cannot buy them off Amazon.

He is working with the players that are present in Pakistan. He cannot do much when they are not capable of delivering. No coach in the world can create talent and ability. Relative to the top players in the world, our players lack both in abundance.

Not really, there are several players from the PSL that have not been given a go. It is clear that our T-20 and ODI batting is out dated. Why haven't the likes of Sohail Akhtar, Shahibzada Farhan been given a go?

I think for a start Strike rates in domestic cricket and PSL need to be prioritized, we have too many one dimensional batsmen in the team who bat at the SR of the 90's. That approach in itself is just all wrong. End result is a total of 237 in 50 overs whereas India chased it in 38 overs in the grindy slow conditions of the UAE.

Selection is in the control of the captain and coach.

 

[MenInG]

wow how from Mickey the Saviour (CT17) to Mickey the Useless.....

The Pakistani Fans react.

 

[Markhor]

Mickey's main flaw is adopting pace heavy attacks in slow, dry UAE surfaces where at least one specialist spinner is a must.

Shadab doesn't have the control to be the frontline spinner, and Nawaz isn't good enough period.

 

[Muhammad Saad]

The one who bats aggressive unfortunately has a brain size of a peanut, it's the best we have the current playing xi,

 

[Major]

I agree that Mickey has made some mistakes and often misreads the conditions. He also needs to cop some blame for putting too much faith in bits and pieces nobodies like Shadab and Faheem. However, even the specialist players are not delivering.

specialist like shadab cannot delivery if pressure isn;t applied from the other end.

I have watched enough cricket in UAE that i could i could easily deduce, a seam bowler is a walking duck here.

On such wickets, if you play a pacer, you only keep one fast bowler, while the rest of the pace attack should have the likes of rumman raees and faheem ashraf. After that you play 3 spinners. 2 main, (zafar gohar and Shadab), while the third spinner is used to contain runs(hafeez).

 

[Hamad_H]

Mickey can't control dropped catches, brain fades, misfields and most things on the pitch. I hope Mickey gives a Sir Alex style hairdryer treatment to the boys because these performances have been embarrassing. I like to think that Mickey sets a plan with Sarfraz but eventually the players forget and do their own thing and I genuinely believe that happens.

He must have a sit down with Sarfaraz and say what are you doing being so defensive and draw up a proper plan that is adaptable.

One concern of mine is that MA has become too "friendly" with the players and perhaps isn't the same as he was when he first arrived. Having a good relationship between staff and players is important and you are not going to get angry when you are winning games like Pakistan have been upto now but I am worried he knows the players too well to get so angry at them so that they get fired up like he did (presumably based on some of his comments) at the start of his spell. Hard to put into words but I hope posters know what I mean. Pakistani players need to be kept on a short leash to be honest.

 

[Savak]

Mickey can't control dropped catches, brain fades, misfields and most things on the pitch. I hope Mickey gives a Sir Alex style hairdryer treatment to the boys because these performances have been embarrassing. I like to think that Mickey sets a plan with Sarfraz but eventually the players forget and do their own thing and I genuinely believe that happens.

He must have a sit down with Sarfaraz and say what are you doing being so defensive and draw up a proper plan that is adaptable.

One concern of mine is that MA has become too "friendly" with the players and perhaps isn't the same as he was when he first arrived. Having a good relationship between staff and players is important and you are not going to get angry when you are winning games like Pakistan have been upto now but I am worried he knows the players too well to get so angry at them so that they get fired up like he did (presumably based on some of his comments) at the start of his spell. Hard to put into words but I hope posters know what I mean. Pakistani players need to be kept on a short leash to be honest.

Trust me, based on what i have seen of Mickey Arthur, he is never scared of speaking his mind and kicking players out if they are not performing and if they are not meeting the standards he has set. We have already seen how he has taken Sohail Khan, Wahab Riaz, Umar Akmal and Imad Wasim to task.

 

[hafizexpress]

Too much overreaction going on to this loss..

India is a much better team than Pakistan and although Pak also underperformed, India will still beat them either way at least 8/9 times out of 10

India outdoes Pak in every department and on the odd day Pak could outplay them in certain aspects, which could get them a win or two out of 10 games

 

[fitCricFan]

He can't turn junk into gold. At best he has polish them enough and hope they turn out well. The problem with our cricket is that we don't have a good enough grassroot system that would explore, promote and hone talent based on merit alone. Too many vested interests in the PCB and too many politicians calling the shots. If Umar Akmal is still in reckoning for a place in the team then their is something seriously wrong with the process. Closing our eyes or ignoring it wont make the problem go away. Until then we can hope for one off wins here and there but no consistency.

 

[SarfiBabarHaris]

Like him but he is not great as he is made out to be also a poor tactician. That can be attested with his run with Karachi Kings where KK cant even qualify for 1 final (in only a five team tournament) despite being the most star studded team.

 

[fitCricFan]

Like him but he is not great as he is made out to be also a poor tactician. That can be attested with his run with Karachi Kings where KK cant even qualify for 1 final (in only a five team tournament) despite being the most star studded team.

What does being a star have to do with performance, in Pakistan. All it assures you is a spot on the team which you won't loose because you are a star

 

[SarfiBabarHaris]

What does being a star have to do with performance, in Pakistan. All it assures you is a spot on the team which you won't loose because you are a star

From stars i mean KK had the best squads even from Pak no 1 t20 international bowler Imad, no 1 international t20 batsman Babar and players like Amir, Shinwari were part of KK. .

 

[SarfiBabarHaris]

From stars i mean KK had the best squads even from Pak no 1 t20 international bowler Imad, no 1 international t20 batsman Babar and players like Amir, Shinwari were part of KK. .

plus had the help of Pak bowling coach Azhar Mehmood too. In short had the most resources but performance below par.

 

[Abdullah]

Mickey is doing a fine job. he is putting a team together for a world cup in England and a few players are left to fulfill their roles
It is quite clear what the game plan is.
He wants fakhar to attack. He also want a second opener who is going to be positive ( imam has just started out)
He wants Babar to play through with Malik and sarfaraz to up the ante overs 30-40, then he wants Asif and faheem to finish in the slog overs. (They haven't really had a chance to do this much against good sides)
In terms of the bowling Amir and AN Other to open up with Hasan doing reverse in the middle to end. Faheem to hit the hard lengths on 4th stump keeping it tight.
Shadab bowling spin and being an attacking option in the middle.
One thing missing is a right arm offie in the hafeez mould who could bowl early to lefties. ( iMHO we need that to complete the bowling)
Quicks finishing off for the end.
In terms of quicks we have what we have ( Shaheen amir Junaid Hasan rumman Usman) nobody wants to go back to the wahab Riaz days)
Most of the players we are going to go with we have found. It is about working on the roles in the next year against the stronger teams. Games in the UAE need a slightly different blueprint which is maybe throwing him a little bit. Like nawaz is not the faheem equivalent for the UAE, he falls slightly short. And we have to play 3 quicks because there are no spinners who he feels can play international Odis ( going by selection)
The good thing is we have 5 Odis pre world cup for the chosen party to get into a proper groove against a proper team.
We just need to keep our heads up and keep trying to get better day by day. We do take pressure against India and having fakhar out of touch hasn't helped. ( He was getting it back today before that unfortunate dismissal)
Why they are dropping stuff left right a d center Allah only knows!!

 

[Savak]

Mickey is doing a fine job. he is putting a team together for a world cup in England and a few players are left to fulfill their roles
It is quite clear what the game plan is.
He wants fakhar to attack. He also want a second opener who is going to be positive ( imam has just started out)
He wants Babar to play through with Malik and sarfaraz to up the ante overs 30-40, then he wants Asif and faheem to finish in the slog overs. (They haven't really had a chance to do this much against good sides)
In terms of the bowling Amir and AN Other to open up with Hasan doing reverse in the middle to end. Faheem to hit the hard lengths on 4th stump keeping it tight.
Shadab bowling spin and being an attacking option in the middle.
One thing missing is a right arm offie in the hafeez mould who could bowl early to lefties. ( iMHO we need that to complete the bowling)
Quicks finishing off for the end.
In terms of quicks we have what we have ( Shaheen amir Junaid Hasan rumman Usman) nobody wants to go back to the wahab Riaz days)
Most of the players we are going to go with we have found. It is about working on the roles in the next year against the stronger teams. Games in the UAE need a slightly different blueprint which is maybe throwing him a little bit. Like nawaz is not the faheem equivalent for the UAE, he falls slightly short. And we have to play 3 quicks because there are no spinners who he feels can play international Odis ( going by selection)
The good thing is we have 5 Odis pre world cup for the chosen party to get into a proper groove against a proper team.
We just need to keep our heads up and keep trying to get better day by day. We do take pressure against India and having fakhar out of touch hasn't helped. ( He was getting it back today before that unfortunate dismissal)
Why they are dropping stuff left right a d center Allah only knows!!

This strategy of accumulating from overs 10 to 40 is very out dated. Even the top 5 teams with 2 steady batsmen have the ability to bat at a SR of 100 plus after getting their eyes in while while the other 4-5 plus batsmen have the ability to hit big from the get go.

We have too many one dimensional accumulators in the middle order and that is not good enough to even compete with the top 5.

 

[Deewana Mastana]

He can't change the players mentally, they're weak and frail.

 

[fitCricFan]

Mickey is doing a fine job. he is putting a team together for a world cup in England and a few players are left to fulfill their roles
It is quite clear what the game plan is.

He may have a gameplan but it's the players on the ground who have to execute it successfully and it's not happening. Mickey himself said so much after the 1st loss. So, yeah, he can plan all he wants, if the team is not backing him up, it's no good

 

[Savak]

He may have a gameplan but it's the players on the ground who have to execute it successfully and it's not happening. Mickey himself said so much after the 1st loss. So, yeah, he can plan all he wants, if the team is not backing him up, it's no good

To be honest, i am unhappy with his selections, he has backed the wrong players who play an out dated brand. I would have readily accepted losses as long as he was selecting players with a SR of 90 plus from the PSL and in domestic cricket and filling the team with those players. There is only room for Malik, Babar and thats it. Can't have 4-5 accumulators in the team.

 

[Minnowbasher]

Mickey is the best coach Pakistan couldve had. It's not his fault it's the brainless captaincy of saifi plus what the heck is azhar mehmood doing. Bowlers are getting worse and worse.

 

[Minnowbasher]

Where can Mickey find these players if they do not exist in Pakistan? He cannot buy them off Amazon.

He is working with the players that are present in Pakistan. He cannot do much when they are not capable of delivering. No coach in the world can create talent and ability. Relative to the top players in the world, our players lack both in abundance.

Agreed

 

[Bewal Express]

Its not Mickey thats the problem, its the terrible domestic scene, played on bad wickets, with poorly paid players and umpires that needs to be closely looked out. We miss out on so much talent because the PCB is run for the benefit of the well connected rather to promote cricket in PK. I can almost guarantee that the selectors dont watch any donestic cricket.

 

[asifp]

Mickey needs to be fired asap.

He has no plan. Sure he cannot create new players, but his teams have had no plans or thinking.

 

[asifp]

Its not Mickey thats the problem, its the terrible domestic scene, played on bad wickets, with poorly paid players and umpires that needs to be closely looked out. We miss out on so much talent because the PCB is run for the benefit of the well connected rather to promote cricket in PK. I can almost guarantee that the selectors dont watch any donestic cricket.

You should blame domestic cricket only if you select the top performers from domestic. Don't blame domestic cricket if family connections and stylish cover drives are the criteria for selection

 

[Prince of Pakistan]

Except for the UAE Mickey has been phenomenal elsewhere.

He is a true Saffer and a fan of pace bowling the reason he doesn't understand UAE wickets. We lost a few Test series because of that as well. I hope he learns quickly otherwise we will not even beat Australia next month.

Had there been some other coach M. Asghar, Z. Gohar would have made their debut and played like 3/4 tests by now. Mickey just doesn't fancy a spin heavy attack the reason part timers partner Yasir in Asia.

Hope it changes quickly!

 

[Savak]

I repeat, has Mickey Arthur and the Pakistan selectors selected and invested in the right players in the last 2 years? We have too many one dimensional accumulators in the team and the team depends on Fakhar for quick starts.

The limitations of the squad and the players have been exposed in this Asia Cup big time.

 

[jadaja]

Mickey is proving that he and his team were just very lucky in CT 17 and now we are real Pakistan team.There is a reason why Pakistan is no 5 in odis and no 7 in tests.

 

[Savak]

Mickey is proving that he and his team were just very lucky in CT 17 and now we are real Pakistan team.There is a reason why Pakistan is no 5 in odis and no 7 in tests.

People in Pakistan Cricket have no vision at all. You use series against minnows and weak teams to give full opportunities to 100-150 SR hacks, this is mostly a game of hacks in ODI's and T-20's, but no we chose to waste the series with 60-70 SR players.

 

[Savak]

I repeat my objections to the current set of players. It is no good to select consolidators when they get out and fail to make up for their dot deliveries. This 80's-90's mentality and refusal to adapt to the modern ODI game is why we are at the bottom of the rankings.

 

[Savak]

Yet again Pakistan lacked someone earmarked to hit out at the end in the 50 runs needed of 25-30 deliveires. Micky Arthur has seen the same problems day in day out for the last 2 years and yet there is only one really aggressive batsman in the team like Fakhar whereas we are playing the modern ODI game 5-6 accumulators with no one designated to hit out at the end and Micky Arthur still does not have the foresight to try to do anything about.

Boy this is one clueless coach who just talks but nothing else.

 

[DRsohail]

Omar wasim and Shoaib Malik fulfilled that agressive quota today.

 

[Savak]

Omar wasim and Shoaib Malik fulfilled that agressive quota today.

My question is what was the game plan for the scenario where Pakistan needed 50 runs of 30 deliveries at the end? Who did Mickey Arthur expect would do the job? Did he expect NZ to throw spinners at our accumulators at the end? In case pacers were bowling full blooded Yorkers, low full tosses and slower deliveries, slower ball bouncers and with the UAE wickets being slow, grindy and unsuitable for big hitting, who was going to score these 50 runs of the last 25-30 deliveries?

To me the guy is more or less just collecting a paycheque and going through the motions and someone who just plays to the gallery at these press conferences.

 

[Hasan123]

All talk it seems. We can't play modern day LO cricket with the likes of Hafeez ,Sarfraz ,and Imam (though I think he will be a good test player)