Mickey Arthur has turned into a superb coach of Pakistan.
He has transformed their white ball fortunes like Trevor Bayliss has with England, but more importantly he has completely overhauled the Test team.
As I have written before, I read Mickey Arthur's autobiography from cover to cover when he was appointed. And it is clear that he has superbly implemented everything he was ever going to.
The problems Mickey Arthur inherited in Tests
1. A geriatric team, with too many veteran batsmen who made occasional huge innings but got out cheaply far too often.
FIXED
Mickey was respectful to Younis and Misbah and clearly respected their work ethic. But he has always made it obvious that he prefers a young, athletic team of players willing to buy into a new culture.
As long as Younis and Misbah hung around, he was not going to be able to control the team. Misbah's Four Bowler strategy was non-negotiable, and neither veteran was going to embrace radical change. Worse still, he had the technical deficits of Mohammad Hafeez which needed removal from the team, and the same can be said of Wahab Riaz too.
The "Respect for Elders" malaise extended to the bowling. Sohail Khan and Imran Khan were far too unfit and military medium in pace to have any chance of success outside Asia. They needed to be weeded out too.
2. An unbalanced team outside Asia
FIXED
Mickey Arthur knows from experience that outside Asia a team generally needs 4 quick bowlers to ensure that the best 2 quicks can bowl short, sharp spells.
Misbah clearly didn't agree: he believed that Yasir Shah was Shane Warne and could bowl 30 overs per day and let 3 quicks bowl 20 overs each.
The wheels fell off Misbah's theory at Manchester, Birmingham, Christchurch, Hamilton, Melbourne and finally at Sydney. It was a complete disaster.
What Misbah hadn't realized was that a 3 minute Yasir Shah over provided none of the recuperation time that a 5 minute Faheem Ashraf over offers. He had only three quicks - and one of them was the lumbering Sohail Khan, who in 6 Tests took 1 Second Innings wicket.
But there was another issue too with Misbah's Formula of 6 batsmen and 4 bowlers.
Misbah would argue that the batsmen need to score the runs, and the best 4 bowlers should play.
But Pakistan's batting ain't exactly India. Even against Ireland in 2018, we have seen Pakistan's top order crumble and need to be bailed out by Shadab Khan at 7 and Faheem Ashraf at 8.
Mickey has been consistent throughout his career. Five specialist batsmen, a keeper who can bat (and Sarfraz is skating on increasingly thin ice currently), 2 all-rounders and 3 specialist bowlers.
If you consider the 2018 Lords Test, in reply to England's 184, Pakistan was 227-5. A team with a Misbah Tail might have crumbled to 255 all out, a lead of roughly 70.
But Shadab Khan and Faheem Ashraf provide an insurance policy, especially against an older ball.
At Lords this week in the First Innings, Numbers 7, 8 and 9 scored 113 runs for 2 wickets.
At Lords in 2016 - when Pakistan won - numbers 7, 8 and 9 scored 100 runs for 6 wickets.
3. A poor fielding unit
FIXED
In 2018, Pakistan is outfielding England! Catches are being taken in the slips and the outfielding is excellent. Five of the players are under 25 years of age and the youthful vitality shows.
There are only 3 players aged on the wrong side of 30, and they are 33 (Azhar Ali), 32 (Asad Shafiq) and 31 (Sarfraz Ahmed). It shows!
4. A poorly-prepared team
FIXED
Teams have to prepare for Test cricket. Pakistan's players in my opinion are more suited to playing OUTSIDE Asia than in it, but in both 2016 and 2018 the team has arrived in England early enough to adapt to the conditions and win.
Yet when they hosted Sri Lanka in the UAE they didn't bother to arrive early enough to play practice matches in the conditions, and managed to lose to a club-quality team.
So what is Mickey Arthur getting wrong?
1. He hasn't really adapted his thinking to Asian conditions.
His South Africans won Inzamam's farewell series in Pakistan by playing 4 quicks and a single spinner, and he tried to replicate that against Sri Lanka.
But that makes sense when you don't have any decent spinners. And when you have ATGs like Dale Steyn and AB De Villiers and Dale Steyn in the team.
Mickey is going to need to play finger spinners in Asia, and probably 2 of them per Test. Yasir Shah and Shadab Khan won't have the control to tie down the opposition like a finger spinner on a dry track.
2. He hasn't challenged the idea that Pakistan must host series in Asia
Why on earth should they host teams in Asia?
They haven't got a decent finger spinner to speak of, several of the batsmen are mediocre against spin bowling and the best bowlers are quicks. Yasir Shah is okay on a dry wicket outside Asia, but he can't bat, and frankly we have seen in England and Ireland that outside Asia you get as much out of Shadab Khan - because of his batting - as you do out of Yasir Shah.
Pakistan don't play bilateral series with India. They don't have any sort of home advantage in Asia against Sri Lanka or Bangladesh.
So why do they need to play in the UAE at all other than when hosting England or Australia? Why not use small (and cheap, and available) venues in Mickey Arthur's native South Africa, where conditions might actually suit Pakistan - and prepare them for tours to Australia and South Africa.
He has transformed their white ball fortunes like Trevor Bayliss has with England, but more importantly he has completely overhauled the Test team.
As I have written before, I read Mickey Arthur's autobiography from cover to cover when he was appointed. And it is clear that he has superbly implemented everything he was ever going to.
The problems Mickey Arthur inherited in Tests
1. A geriatric team, with too many veteran batsmen who made occasional huge innings but got out cheaply far too often.
FIXED
Mickey was respectful to Younis and Misbah and clearly respected their work ethic. But he has always made it obvious that he prefers a young, athletic team of players willing to buy into a new culture.
As long as Younis and Misbah hung around, he was not going to be able to control the team. Misbah's Four Bowler strategy was non-negotiable, and neither veteran was going to embrace radical change. Worse still, he had the technical deficits of Mohammad Hafeez which needed removal from the team, and the same can be said of Wahab Riaz too.
The "Respect for Elders" malaise extended to the bowling. Sohail Khan and Imran Khan were far too unfit and military medium in pace to have any chance of success outside Asia. They needed to be weeded out too.
2. An unbalanced team outside Asia
FIXED
Mickey Arthur knows from experience that outside Asia a team generally needs 4 quick bowlers to ensure that the best 2 quicks can bowl short, sharp spells.
Misbah clearly didn't agree: he believed that Yasir Shah was Shane Warne and could bowl 30 overs per day and let 3 quicks bowl 20 overs each.
The wheels fell off Misbah's theory at Manchester, Birmingham, Christchurch, Hamilton, Melbourne and finally at Sydney. It was a complete disaster.
What Misbah hadn't realized was that a 3 minute Yasir Shah over provided none of the recuperation time that a 5 minute Faheem Ashraf over offers. He had only three quicks - and one of them was the lumbering Sohail Khan, who in 6 Tests took 1 Second Innings wicket.
But there was another issue too with Misbah's Formula of 6 batsmen and 4 bowlers.
Misbah would argue that the batsmen need to score the runs, and the best 4 bowlers should play.
But Pakistan's batting ain't exactly India. Even against Ireland in 2018, we have seen Pakistan's top order crumble and need to be bailed out by Shadab Khan at 7 and Faheem Ashraf at 8.
Mickey has been consistent throughout his career. Five specialist batsmen, a keeper who can bat (and Sarfraz is skating on increasingly thin ice currently), 2 all-rounders and 3 specialist bowlers.
If you consider the 2018 Lords Test, in reply to England's 184, Pakistan was 227-5. A team with a Misbah Tail might have crumbled to 255 all out, a lead of roughly 70.
But Shadab Khan and Faheem Ashraf provide an insurance policy, especially against an older ball.
At Lords this week in the First Innings, Numbers 7, 8 and 9 scored 113 runs for 2 wickets.
At Lords in 2016 - when Pakistan won - numbers 7, 8 and 9 scored 100 runs for 6 wickets.
3. A poor fielding unit
FIXED
In 2018, Pakistan is outfielding England! Catches are being taken in the slips and the outfielding is excellent. Five of the players are under 25 years of age and the youthful vitality shows.
There are only 3 players aged on the wrong side of 30, and they are 33 (Azhar Ali), 32 (Asad Shafiq) and 31 (Sarfraz Ahmed). It shows!
4. A poorly-prepared team
FIXED
Teams have to prepare for Test cricket. Pakistan's players in my opinion are more suited to playing OUTSIDE Asia than in it, but in both 2016 and 2018 the team has arrived in England early enough to adapt to the conditions and win.
Yet when they hosted Sri Lanka in the UAE they didn't bother to arrive early enough to play practice matches in the conditions, and managed to lose to a club-quality team.
So what is Mickey Arthur getting wrong?
1. He hasn't really adapted his thinking to Asian conditions.
His South Africans won Inzamam's farewell series in Pakistan by playing 4 quicks and a single spinner, and he tried to replicate that against Sri Lanka.
But that makes sense when you don't have any decent spinners. And when you have ATGs like Dale Steyn and AB De Villiers and Dale Steyn in the team.
Mickey is going to need to play finger spinners in Asia, and probably 2 of them per Test. Yasir Shah and Shadab Khan won't have the control to tie down the opposition like a finger spinner on a dry track.
2. He hasn't challenged the idea that Pakistan must host series in Asia
Why on earth should they host teams in Asia?
They haven't got a decent finger spinner to speak of, several of the batsmen are mediocre against spin bowling and the best bowlers are quicks. Yasir Shah is okay on a dry wicket outside Asia, but he can't bat, and frankly we have seen in England and Ireland that outside Asia you get as much out of Shadab Khan - because of his batting - as you do out of Yasir Shah.
Pakistan don't play bilateral series with India. They don't have any sort of home advantage in Asia against Sri Lanka or Bangladesh.
So why do they need to play in the UAE at all other than when hosting England or Australia? Why not use small (and cheap, and available) venues in Mickey Arthur's native South Africa, where conditions might actually suit Pakistan - and prepare them for tours to Australia and South Africa.
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