| Intro | South African cricketer |
| Is |
Athlete Cricketer |
| From | South Africa |
| Type | Sports |
| Gender | male |
| Birth |
17 May 1968, Johannesburg |
| Age | 52 years |
John Michael “Mickey” Arthur (born 17 May 1968) is a South African cricketer who played South African domestic cricket from 1986 to 2001. He is the current coach of the Pakistan national cricket team. He coached the South African national team from 2005 to 2010, and was the coach of the Australia national cricket team until his sacking on 23 June 2013.
Biography
Arthur was born in Johannesburg, Transvaal, South Africa. He is an old boy of Westville Boys’ High School.
Playing career
Arthur scored 6557 runs playing for Orange Free State, Griqualand West and South Africa A before retiring in 2001.
Coaching career
South Africa
Arthur began his coaching career by coaching Griqualand West cricket team in the domestic competition before taking over the Eastern Cape side in 2003. In his last two series in charge Arthur managed to guide them to the finals of the Standard Bank Pro20 Series. He was a surprising choice to take over as the national coach in May 2005, succeeding Ray Jennings.
He had a tough introduction into international cricket with his first two Test series as coach happening to be against a rampant Australia, both away and at home, during which South Africa were easily beaten. An injury-hit South Africa failed to make the finals of the 2005-06 VB Series, but they did clinch a tense one-day series win over Australia at home, which culminated in an iconic match at Johannesburg.
A home win over New Zealand was followed up by a disastrous tour of Sri Lanka in the summer of 2006, where South Africa lost both Tests and pulled out of a tri-series after a bomb exploded in Colombo, and failure to make the final of the ICC Champions Trophy. Successes include back-to-back Test and one-day series victories against India and Pakistan at home propelled South Africa to the top of the ODI rankings. This was a major boost prior to the 2007 Cricket World Cup.
South Africa were, however, disappointing at the world cup. They had a roller coaster ride that included dominant wins over England, the West Indies, Ireland, Netherlands and Scotland and a narrow win over Sri Lanka but devastating losses to Australia, New Zealand and Bangladesh that cost them the number one ranking. Then they bowed out in the semifinals with their lowest ever score in a World Cup as Australia bowled them out for 149 and won by 7 wickets.
The preceding two years had been the best in South Africa’s test history. Starting with the two home series wins at home against Pakistan and India, Arthur lead the team through a series of 9 unbeaten test series and a number of good one-day results. This streak included wins against India, Pakistan, West Indies, New Zealand and Bangladesh at home and away wins against England, Pakistan, Bangladesh and a credible draw in India.
In 2008, Arthur became the first South African coach to guide his team to a test win in Australia. The team backed up this performance by winning the resulting One-Day International series against the odds. This unexpected 4-1 win meant that they regained the No.1 ranking in the One-Day International rankings .
During the 2005/06 tour to Australia, he questioned the umpiring standards, claiming that the officials were biased due to overappealing by the Australian cricket team. He was cleared of the charges.
In January 2010 he resigned because of alleged differences between himself and Cricket South Africa. The reports say Cricket South Africa Chief Executive Gerald Majola will oversee the interim selection process with former South African fast bowler Corrie van Zyl and former South African captain Kepler Wessels for the two-Test and three-ODI tour of India.
In Australia
Arthur was the coach of the Western Warriors and later coached the Australian cricket team, until Champions Trophy-2013 in England. Australia crashed out of Champions Trophy 2013 in the group stages. As a pre-emptive measure ahead of the upcoming Ashes series in England, Mickey Arthur was sacked and replaced by Darren Lehmann.
In August 2013, Arthur was appointed as the Head Coach and Director of cricket at Christ Church Grammar School, an Anglican all-boys’ school in Perth, Western Australia.
Karachi Kings
He was appointed as the Head Coach of Karachi Kings in the debut season of Pakistan Super League which was held from 4 February 2016 to 23 February 2016 in the United Arab Emirates. They came fourth in a five-team group table due to which they had to play third-placed Islamabad United in the Elimination round where they lost by 9 wickets and were knocked-out of the tournament.
Pakistan
He was appointed as Head Coach of the Pakistan Cricket Team on May 6, 2016, thus becoming a head coach of an international team for the third time.