Pakistan job has a ‘massive attraction’, says Arthur

Pakistan‘s new coach Mickey Arthur has said the opportunity of associating with a subcontinent team was a “massive attraction”.

Soon after his arrival in Lahore on Wednesday night, his first visit after his appointment, Arthur spoke to the media and explained his decision to take up the job by saying, “If you haven’t coached in the subcontinent you haven’t really coached.”

Arthur was appointed last month to fill the role vacated by Waqar Younis, who resigned following the team’s early exit from the World T20. This is Arthur’s third assignment with an international side he previously coached South Africa from 2005 to 2010, and Australia from 2011 to 2013.

“(It has) massive attraction,” Arthur said. “You just got to look at the passion that the Pakistan public have for cricket. The passion that everybody in the subcontinent has for cricket. For me, I wanted to come and coach in the subcontinent at some stage of my coaching career because if you haven’t coached in the subcontinent, you haven’t really coached.

“That was a massive attraction, coupled with the fact that we need to improve the rankings in ODI cricket without a doubt, we need to improve the rankings in Twenty20 cricket. We need to become a little bit more consistent. Our Test cricket seems to be very good at the moment. Test cricket is being played in conditions conducive to the subcontinent. If we can play well outside the subcontinent [it] means the team’s really going forward and those are all the challenges I’m really looking forward to.”

“The strategy is to make them believe in their own abilities, make them believe where we are going to take this team and that belief comes over time, it just doesn’t start. I love to see the players dig deep inside and find the extra 10% that’s going to make a significant difference to this team going forward and that’s what I will try to dwell and try to get out of every player. To make sure that they become better, and if they become better players Pakistan cricket will benefit. That is my primary focus at the moment.”

Arthur has a two-year deal with the PCB, which will be reviewed after a year based on the team’s performance. With four major series for the side over the next eight months after the England tour, Pakistan are scheduled to play West Indies, New Zealand and Australia Arthur has set his sights on identifying players who fit in with the long-term vision of taking the team to No. 1 across formats.

Mickey Arthur meets PCB chairman

Pakistan cricket team head coach Mickey Arthur, called on Chairman of Pakistan Cricket Board Shaharyar M Khan at Gadaffi stadium.

During the meeting, the newly appointed coach gave his professional opinion to lift teams’ performance during the tour of England.

“He also discussed with the Chairman PCB his plan for the betterment of Pakistan cricket and the chairman highlighted the priorities of the PCB in this regard “, said a spokesman of PCB. The head coach also met with the other officials of the board.

Mickey also met the coaching staff of the team, batting coach Grant Flower and fielding coach Grand Luden, and discussed with them the training of the team for the tour of England and got their output on various aspects relating to the preparation of the team.

“The head coach has a busy day as he also met with the coaching staff of the national cricket academy and got their professional opinion on various matters relating to training of the players in NCA “, he said adding “He also inspected the training facilities available for players at the NCA”.