Mickey Arthur has described coaching Pakistan to a shock triumph in last summer’s Champions Trophy as “personal redemption” after being sacked by Australia on the eve of the 2013 Ashes.
The South African was dismissed less than three weeks before the start of the series in England five years ago and replaced by Darren Lehmann after Cricket Australia felt his disciplinarian approach was proving counterproductive, with the infamous ‘homeworkgate’ upsetting several senior players.
“I took a hit, I absolutely did,” Arthur tells John Stern in the latest issue of Wisden Cricket Monthly. “It knocked my confidence. I’d had great success and that was my first real failure. It hit me hard. That was why I was so keen to get another international gig.”
“When I came to Pakistan I checked out what the system needed and how I could adapt culturally,” he says. “I didn’t come in firing from the start, I listened a lot more then changed what I thought needed changing. The players are unbelievably talented and skilful but we needed to push them through their comfort zones. We’ve brought a culture of real hard work and training which has shaken up the system a lot.
“It’s been a tough, hard approach and a lot of players are feeling challenged. But the guys are seeing the benefit of that and responding unbelievably well.”
To read the Mickey Arthur interview in full, and expert analysis of the ball-tampering saga from Kumar Sangakkara and Lawrence Booth, you can buy your copy of Wisden Cricket Monthly here
