- Joined
- Oct 2, 2004
- Runs
- 218,039
Mickey Arthur speaking to the media today:
Look I think it is going to be a formidable World Cup. There are seven teams that can seriously win it.
My head says that England and India are the favourites but Pakistan and South Africa are the next 2 for me, so that will be my top 4; India, England, Pakistan and South Africa
For us this isn’t so much about us and Australia; it’s about the final couple of positions for the World Cup and the opportunities that have been created for a lot of our bench.
We need to find what our next players are in every position and if we can do that out of this series, then this series will be a success for us
When we designed this series, a long while ago, we designed it with the fact that we are going to test our bench strength
This series didn’t just happen, there was planning that went into it; Sometimes people think its adhoc, that we sort of make it up as we go
This series has been planned so we can test the bench strength, we could have a look at our combinations
We know who our major players are going to be at the World Cup, but this series will sort out the final couple of places
Once we are finished here, we are going to into some testing and some camps in Lahore
We will be going to England with a very well settled squad, one that knows where it exactly stands in terms of its role etc and we would have done everything we possible could to be have the best preparation for the World Cup
But as I have said to the boys, this is a series of opportunity and we don’t have to be rocket-scientists to work out that there are couple of positions available for the World Cup
This is an opportunity for these young players to put their hands up, some not so young and try and make those places their own
Sarfaraz Ahmed needs rest as do Babar Azam and all the guys who are resting such as Hasan Ali, Shadab Khan
I have been telling the Australian boys that we have been in hotels since the 12 of September last year, so we would have been stupid if just kept on playing our guys; if we keep on playing our guys, they will get injured, they will get injured and they will also have fatigue; We have a series in England which will be a perfect preparation for us going into the World Cup
So, we would be silly not to use this month to rest our most valuable assets for what is the biggest challenge of all, the World Cup
Australia are a fantastic side; they have sort of bubbled away and are playing some really good cricket at the moment
To comeback from 2-0 down in India, and to win that series by a 2-3 margin is a fantastic achievement
They have some fine players; We speak about Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon has bowled well, Pat Cummins is in good nick and they have a couple of youngsters
I am sure they will be resting and rotating through the series; there is no such thing as a weak Australian team
Look I think it is going to be a formidable World Cup. There are seven teams that can seriously win it.
My head says that England and India are the favourites but Pakistan and South Africa are the next 2 for me, so that will be my top 4; India, England, Pakistan and South Africa
For us this isn’t so much about us and Australia; it’s about the final couple of positions for the World Cup and the opportunities that have been created for a lot of our bench.
We need to find what our next players are in every position and if we can do that out of this series, then this series will be a success for us
When we designed this series, a long while ago, we designed it with the fact that we are going to test our bench strength
This series didn’t just happen, there was planning that went into it; Sometimes people think its adhoc, that we sort of make it up as we go
This series has been planned so we can test the bench strength, we could have a look at our combinations
We know who our major players are going to be at the World Cup, but this series will sort out the final couple of places
Once we are finished here, we are going to into some testing and some camps in Lahore
We will be going to England with a very well settled squad, one that knows where it exactly stands in terms of its role etc and we would have done everything we possible could to be have the best preparation for the World Cup
But as I have said to the boys, this is a series of opportunity and we don’t have to be rocket-scientists to work out that there are couple of positions available for the World Cup
This is an opportunity for these young players to put their hands up, some not so young and try and make those places their own
Sarfaraz Ahmed needs rest as do Babar Azam and all the guys who are resting such as Hasan Ali, Shadab Khan
I have been telling the Australian boys that we have been in hotels since the 12 of September last year, so we would have been stupid if just kept on playing our guys; if we keep on playing our guys, they will get injured, they will get injured and they will also have fatigue; We have a series in England which will be a perfect preparation for us going into the World Cup
So, we would be silly not to use this month to rest our most valuable assets for what is the biggest challenge of all, the World Cup
Australia are a fantastic side; they have sort of bubbled away and are playing some really good cricket at the moment
To comeback from 2-0 down in India, and to win that series by a 2-3 margin is a fantastic achievement
They have some fine players; We speak about Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon has bowled well, Pat Cummins is in good nick and they have a couple of youngsters
I am sure they will be resting and rotating through the series; there is no such thing as a weak Australian team
