Arthur: We want to be county of choice

MICKEY Arthur has coached South Africa, Australia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, but maintains coaching a county side is not so different.

Appointed Derbyshire head of cricket this season, he has transformed the outlook and results of the team ahead of their Vitality Blast quarter-final tonight against Somerset.

Much has already been said about the enthusiasm Arthur brings to the game and he says he is relishing “Project Derbyshire.”

“The fundamentals remain exactly the same,” he said. “You can take a microcosm of any dressing room across the world and that microcosm is almost the same. The standards, the way you coach and manage, the expectations you have for every individual within that dressing room don’t change.

“Obviously, there is a subtle difference between a county team and an international team and there are some external differences. But the way we work as a team and our expectations remain exactly the same.

“It was exactly what I wanted, a massive project. We’re only just touching the iceberg here. “There is a lot more to come. “We want to be the county of choice, we want people knocking the doors down to come here.”

But first things first. Arthur insisted from the start that being hard to beat came first – winning regularly would follow on naturally.

“You never look too far ahead,” he said. “When I arrived it was about making the guys believe that they could be better, believe in themselves as a team and believe in the journey we were on.

“Once you instil that belief and confidence, players respond, they take it on board and you find that little hidden three or four per cent.

“Then you start getting a couple of wins and that process becomes quite powerful.

“Everyone plays their role. We talk about it being a jigsaw puzzle. Once that jigsaw puzzle fits and you have the picture, then it becomes pretty satisfying.

“We are almost there, we’re not there yet, but we’re getting close.”