Mickey Arthur set to be Pakistan team director: Reports

Veteran cricket coach Mickey Arthur is set to join the Pakistan dressing once again, albeit as a team director and not as a head coach.

There has been a significant hiatus around the appointment of Mickey Arthur as Pakistan’s head coach for quite a while – almost after Najam Sethi was appointed as the PCB Chief, to be specific.

ESPN Cricinfo reported on Monday that Arthur is close to signing a deal with the PCB as a team director.

The PCB, as Najam Sethi had made evident in his earlier comments, was keen to have Arthur as the head coach of the side. However, he was currently coaching the English county Derbyshire and was not willing to let go of that position.

Arthur has a contract with Derbyshire till 2025. Arthur will now simultaneously take up the role of team director from 1 April, the report states.

The manner in which the operations will be conducted is quite unusual and the first of its kind in international cricket as Pakistan will not name anyone else as a head coach. Arthur will travel with the team on tours and tournaments he decides and will handpick a group of personnel to run the operations.

Grant Bradburn, who served as Pakistan’s fielding coach earlier will be a high-powered assistant coach. There will be three additional batting, bowling, and fielding coaches.

Several media reports from Pakistan organisations also termed the role of Arthur to be of an online coach.

Arthur is expected to join with the team only during the ODI World Cup and later when Pakistan tours Australia for a Test series. However, the Englishman will not be available for the Asia Cup that Pakistan is expected to host.

Arthur was Paksitan’s head coach during the 2016-2019 period and largely transformed the Pakistan squad after their slump in white-ball cricket. The highlight of his stint was when he led the Sarfaraz Ahmed-led side to the 2017 Champions Trophy win beating arch-rivals India in the finals.

Arthur had a short stint with Sri Lanka after 2019 and since then, has been with Derbyshire.

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