Mickey Arthur : New Pakistan Coach

The suspense over who would be the next Pakistan coach was over on Friday after the PCB named the South African Mickey Arthur for the top job. Arthur, who has previously coached South Africa and Australia, succeeds Waqar Younis, who had resigned owing to Pakistan’s disastrous World T20 campaign.

“Following detailed consultations…discussions with Mickey Arthur were initiated and he has confirmed his acceptance of the post of Head Coach of the Pakistan National Cricket team,” the PCB said in a statement. “The modalities vis-a-vis his contract are being finalized. It is expected that Mickey Arthur will be able to join the PCB toward the end of this month,” it added.
The post was initially offered to Stuart Law, who turned it down citing his inability to immediately join the team. Englishman Peter Moores had also rejected PCB’s offer.  “A panel was appointed comprising Wasim Akram, Ramiz Raja, and Faisal Mirza to make recommendations to the PCB. The panel received and reviewed applications and forwarded four recommendations to the PCB for it to make a final decision.” a PCB release stated, confirming the appointment.

Mickey Arthur had played 110 first-class games between 1987 and 2001 before taking over as the head coach of  South Africa in 2005 and had a good five-year run before problems started to surface. In 2009, they won just one of the six Tests, and drew a series against England. In 2010 he became the head coach of Australia. His time with Australia was rife with mediocre showings on the field and team discipline issues off it.  The most famous being the Homework Gate on the Indian tour. It ended with Arthur being sacked from the job, just a fortnight before the much-anticipated 2013 Ashes in England.

With Pakistan, he is set to begin his New Innings. It will be a more difficult challenge. A PCB release said Arthur was expected to take over by the end of the month. His first assignment will be on the Pakistan tour of England.