Can Mickey Arthur rebuild the fallen Lankan empire
Mickey Arthur, who has moved bases thrice in his career, would now be part of the Sri Lankan set-up with the Pakistan series. What Arthur can bring to the table is discipline, hard work, developing young talent, creating a unique brand of cricket that was lacked from Ceylon in the recent past.
Finishing six on the ICC’s Test rankings, and despite their predecessor leading the side to a victory with the national system on the mend, the management had appointed the South African batsman Mickey Arthur. And no, we are not talking about the Sri Lankan national team.
Back in 2005, when a young Ray Jennings was appointed as the interim manager in one of South African crickets’ worst time in International cricket. Jennings did all that he could as the interim, leading the Proteas to a 2-0 series win against Brian Lara’s West Indies side and further followed it up with a 5-0 dominance in the ODI format. That was all he could ever do sadly for the national side before his contract expired.
The Proteas’ cricket board had a decision to make, and a tough one with their system in crumbles. Thus was Mickey Arthur appointed as the head coach of the team, coming off with vast experience and understanding of the domestic circuit. However, Arthur was a newbie on the coaching block, largely raising a question mark on his credibility. Prior to that South Africa’s record in Tests was fairly inconsistent. A few wins here at home, with a lot of losses away from home, was the narrative.
A 37-year-old Arthur stepped up and said, “I believe I can step into the breach and make a difference,” and thus began the era of dominance for the Proteas in Test cricket. It was not just the No.1 status that mattered, but the way South African played in the Test arena and their attitude towards the longer format that was really revealing.
Flash-forward to 2019, Arthur has been appointed as Sri Lanka’s head coach. A side, which is currently at No.6, and with Chandika Hathurasingha leading the side to an entertaining draw against the in-form New Zealand side. The Ceylon side won the opener convincingly by nine wickets, before stumbling in the second by an innings and 65 runs.
Arthur’s brand of Cricket:
What Arthur can bring to the table is discipline, hard work, developing young talent, creating a unique brand of cricket. Going back to his stint with the Proteas, he gave a debut to Morne Morkel, Paul Harris and JP Duminy while overseeing the development of Dale Steyn, Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers and skipper Graeme Smith.
Steyn made his debut a year prior to Arthur’s appointment, yet his best years coincided with the Proteas’ No.1 rankings in the Test format. While Makhaya Ntini was the best South African bowler under Jennings, Steyn turned the leaf over since playing under Arthur. Ntini continued to blossom under Jennings, as Steyn was picking up the momentum from the other end. In the Centurion Test against New Zealand, the duo picked up all the ten wickets in the second innings, showing what was in store for Arthur’s future with the Proteas. The duo made a massive impact for the Proteas, in conditions that were familiar and favourable to the pacers.
Cut back to Sri Lanka in their last home series against New Zealand, Suranga Lakmal’s return to form has been a blessing for the Island nation. Alongside Akila Dananjaya, Lakmal formed a formidable partnership picking up nine wickets in the opener at Galle. Guiding like Ntini, Lakmal bolstered the bowling attack with confidence, vigour and aggression which has been missing since Chaminda Vaas called it a day.
However, more importantly for Sri Lanka on sub-continental pitches, Arthur would be looking to exploit the domestic circuit by picking more spinners. Prior to his appointment, Sri Lanka have heavily banked on the experienced spinner Rangana Herath to provide the results and Herath has not disappointed picking up 46 wickets in nine innings striking every 36th delivery. However, Arthur does not have that luxury, the luxury he has includes the veteran Dilruwan Perera, who is already 36 has become the mainstay spinner in the setup.
Spinners dominance for Sri Lanka © ESPNCricinfoThe domestic arena would be closely noticed by Arthur and his management, given his reputation with scouting players, will look out for the youth spinners in Sri Lanka. 23-year-old offie Tharindu Ratnayake, who has picked up 53 wickets on the domestic circuit could very well be the first player to be picked in the squad. Herath can not be replaced, nor can Vaas in the playing XI but similar replacements could always be found. With Amila Aponso, Arthur could rely and bank on the left-armers’ form in the domestic cricket on favourable conditions, with Aponso picking up 47 wickets in Sri Lanka’s premier tournament.
Highest wicket-takers in Domestic cricket © ESPNCricinfoWith the batting, Dimuth Karunaratne the skipper, the left-handed opener, and a personality resembling the Proteas’ Graeme Smith leads the batting while being ten years more experienced than Smith. While Gibbs and AB de Villiers partnered with Smith at the top of the order, it is a well-established opening pair that Arthur would oversee in Sri Lanka. A 32-year-old all-rounder who has been the mainstay of the team for a long period is a common factor between Arthur’s 2005 Proteas side (Shaun Pollock) and 2019 Sri Lankan side (Angelo Mathews).
What Mickey Arthur has in the SL unit © ESPNCricinfoArthur has a task cut out, with the Sri Lankan middle-order less experienced compared to the Proteas side he was coaching. The middle-order in the Proteas side was filled with experienced and cut-out players for the Test format with Botha Dippenaar, Jacques Kallis and Mark Boucher with Ashwell Prince and AB de Villiers relatively new to the arena. However, the Sri Lankan side does not lack any talent, with the middle order averaging 35.08 in total having only played 200 games between them out of which Mathews has played 82.
Since he took over the reins with the Proteas, he gave larger roles to AB de Villiers and Prince while also retaining the experience of Mark Boucher. Kallis took the onus on him to score runs for the team, as he amassed over 3000 runs during Arthur’s time. Further, the South African coach gave a debut to Hashim Amla, who repaid the confidence with 2666 runs, at an average of 43.7 for the Proteas.
The batting order Arthur built © ESPNCricinfoFor Arthur to succeed as Sri Lanka’s head coach, he would have to propel the team at home and would want to continue the Islanders dominant record at home. Under him, the South African team have won 22 of the 45 Tests that they have played at home. With nearly 1.5 wins for every loss, Arthur’s Proteas time has taken 395 wickets nearly accounting to 8 wickets every innings show how much he banks on his bowlers just as his batsmen on home conditions.
Team Record at Home for South Africa under Arthur © ESPNCricinfoSri Lanka, similarly have been largely banking on victories at home, with 61 victories in the 141 Test matches that they have played at home, with a win rate of nearly 1.564. With Arthur’s appointment and his past record on home conditions, Sri Lankan cricket is in safe hands for the future.
Sri Lanka’s overall home record © ESPNCricinfoThe stars have been aligned and aligned in favour of Arthur’s success. However, stars aligned alone does not lead to success. But Arthur does not depend on just the stars to be aligned, rather he is someone who is capable of aligning the stars together and putting the Midas touch to the under-performing Sri Lankan side.
"The thing that really attracted me was that I looked at the talent that was available and that's the key motivating factor. It's coming to watch these young players and help these young players fulfil their potential," said Arthur after being appointed as Sri Lanka's head coach.
Midas and his golden touch, or Mickey Arthur and his side being the No.1 Test team, you decide!
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