Arthur’s catharsis helps to transform Pakistan fortunes under harsh glare
After humiliation with Australia, coach Mickey Arthur explains how he has found redemption
At the Oval last June, Pakistan eviscerated India in the Champions Trophy final, with a performance of overwhelming vitality. Just a fortnight earlier, a ragtag side masquerading as Pakistan had been pummelled by India in their opening game. Twenty-five years after Imran Khan’s cornered tigers triumphed in the 1992 World Cup, here was a worthy sequel.
For Pakistan head coach Mickey Arthur it was a moment like no other. “That’s certainly the best three weeks of my coaching career,” he says. “The emotion around being absolutely smashed to every game becoming a mustwin, to ultimately winning and playing some unbelievable cricket in the semi-final and final. It was just absolutely mind-blowing.”
It was a triumph for Arthur infused with catharsis and vindication. At the same ground four years and one day earlier he had overseen Australia’s defeat by Sri Lanka and elimination from the Champions Trophy. A few days later, he was sacked.
“I took a massive knock,” he says. “You feel you lose all your strength, all the credits that you’ve got in your coaching career.
“To come to Pakistan and hopefully have a positive impact and getting a win – it’s kind of changed the perception, so I guess a little bit of vindication.”
Arthur has 15 years of experience as a coach, including a triumphant five years with his native South Africa, whom he led to the top of the Test rankings, that awkward 18-month stint as Australia coach and time on the Twenty20 franchise circuit. Coaching Pakistan is “totally different”.
“It’s very emotionally driven, and very result-orientated,” he says. “After a bad defeat, players get hounded. The media punish them. There’s cricket shows on every night, guys getting abused.”
He reminds his players they are “only one performance away from getting back to the top”. In this way, the Champions Trophy was Pakistan cricket in microcosm.
Arthur sees himself as a bridge, harnessing the traditional strengths of Pakistan cricket with the best from other cultures. This means a more structured environment, improving preparation
“mentally, physically, technically
– the whole lot”. “There’s a lot of guys that come in and play international cricket that haven’t really been coached, haven’t had structure, haven’t had standards,” he says. The emphasis on standards points to Arthur’s relentless focus on fitness and fielding. “What we’ve done is that uncompromising way we’ve worked with standards.”
To prove his point, he dropped strike bowler Wahab Riaz in April, declaring: “His work ethic around training needs to be looked at.”
He has also stressed continuity in selection. “I’ve tried to make it as calm as we can because of the outside noise, to create an environment that’s stable and positive.”
Statistical analysis has been embraced more than in previous regimes – particularly in T20, where Pakistan, once anaemic in the format, have won 17 games out of 20 under Arthur and are now ranked world No 1. “In T20, there’s a lot of info out there you can use,” he says. “We’ll throw