‘I pick the team but the captain is the leader’
South Africa coach Mickey Arthur has been speaking exclusively to SPIN about his coaching methods.
Arthur, who has recently been approached in connection with the vacant England coaching job, has just signed a new three-year contract with South Africa. He told SPIN “I’m very happy with South Africa. I love every minute of the job I do. I’m thoroughly enjoying it at the moment.”
But with Tom Moody and Graham Ford having counted themselves out of the running, the ECB’s short-list is getting ever shorter. And Arthur, who, with skipper Graeme Smith, has made South Africa the No 1 ODI team in the world, may become an increasingly attractive proposition.
Arthur’s team has registered series wins in England and Australia over the last nine months. Beyond caretaker coach Andy Flower and ex-India boss John Wright, Arthur is one of the few remaining candidates.
His interview, with SPIN’s Wayne Veysey, provides some intriguing clues as to how he would run the England team. It appears in full in the April issue of SPIN, on news-stands now, or available from the SPIN shop. The following is an extract.
SPIN: Who is the boss? The captain or the coach?
Mickey Arthur: I’m a big believer that the captain is still the leader. They both lead in their own jobs: the captain on the field and the coach off the field. All off-field activities in terms of preparation are my area. Then Graeme takes over the team meeting the night before a game and I will back him up. So we know exactly where we stand.
On tour we will meet virtually every day to decide what we’re going to do and who is going to say what. It’s vital that we don’t contradict each other. Coaches can over-complicate issues. Coaches can be too technical. What I have done is try and create the environment for our players to perform by giving them stability in their jobs and consistency in what we tell them.
How should a captain- coach relationship work?
They must sit down and formulate the brand of cricket that they want the team to play and to pick the personnel to implement the brand. Graeme and I thrashed out our thoughts on cricket and we felt exactly the same. I’m a firm believer in the captain and coach having the same philosophy and sharing the same methods so not to confuse the players. We both wanted our team to take the game forward, to play without fear. Previous South African teams had been too tentative in their approach.
How do you motivate the team’s batsmen?
I like the guys to take responsibility as a group. In every Test we ask the top six to get 300 runs in the first innings. That is their job. It takes the ‘I’ out of the group. As a top six they are working as a team. When players have clarity, you get accountability and performance. There are a lot of slogans in the dressing room and they get a document saying, ‘I am responsible for these runs.’
And the bowlers?
We encourage the bowlers to strive for 20 wickets. They are each given specific roles. We have three attacking bowlers – Dale Steyn, Makhaya Ntini and Morne Morkel. As a unit they are all different. Dale is skiddy and swings it out at pace; Morne is tall and gets bounce; Ntini comes in at you from wide on the crease. They are different forms of attack.
The holding roles are done by Paul Harris and Jacques Kallis. They are a bit more defensive. I need a spinner and Kallis to hold the game. Dale is our spearhead. He is the go-to man. At most times we are looking for him to strike. Ntini and Morne to a degree have the same responsibility.
Should the coach select the players?
I am one of four selectors. I sit on the panel and so does Graeme. I’m asked for my opinion on the squad. I don’t have a vote on the squad but I feature very strongly in discussions. Once the squad is selected, I become the sole selector at home and abroad. At home you are always with the convenor [chief selector].
Abroad, I become the sole selector. Graeme and I have a lot of discussion but ultimately we are always on the same page. We have never had conflict. Because we share the same philosophy, selecting becomes an easy thing.
How far ahead do you plan?
All good teams look ahead. We have our eye on succession planning. We identified JP Duminy two years ago as our next best batsman. He has been travelling with us for two years in Test cricket as a member of the squad and been playing one-day international cricket. It has been no fluke. We deliberately brought him through two years with that in mind.
We have got a young quick bowler Lonwabo Tsotsobe who is the future. In terms of all-rounders Albie Morkel could be a Test all-rounder. I think he could be. Imran Tahir could be the missing piece. He could enable us to play two spinners on the sub-continent.
And finally… Are you interested in becoming England coach?
I will never say never. But I have just signed a three-year contract and I’m very happy with South Africa. I love every minute of the job I do. I’m thoroughly enjoying it at the moment.
ECB in talks with ‘new Stanford’
March 24, 2009 by George Dobell
Filed under News
The ECB are considering an offer from a wealthy benefactor to help pay for the redevelopment of several major grounds, SPIN has learned.
It is understood that talks are at an advanced stage and the individual concerned, a well-known philanthropist, is willing to make a multi-million pound donation.
The news comes at an ideal time for several clubs. A number of historic venues – Edgbaston and Old Trafford among them – are in dire need of redevelopment but are facing a struggle to raise the requisite funds in the current economic climate.
Some will be uneasy at the news. The last time an individual was seen to make an attractive offer to the ECB – Sir Allen Stanford – it ended in tears and recriminations. This time, however, it is understood that the ECB believe the individual to be of impeccable character and that he wants very little in return.
‘I’m a terrible Twenty20 player!’
March 13, 2009 by George Dobell
Filed under Uncategorized
From SPIN, October, 2007
SPIN: Are you expecting to get a hostile reaction when you walk out to bat in South Africa?
KP: I got a hostile reception when I walked out to bat in England yesterday [at an Edgbaston ground packed with India supporters] yesterday! It doesn’t faze me one bit. I don’t even think about it.
Will your knowledge of the local conditions an advantage?
Not really. International players travel round the world all the time now. They’ve all experienced the conditions. Besides, I’ve never played there in September. It’s a bizarre time to hold the tournament: it’s the start of their summer and the ball will move all over the place. Still, it’s the same for everyone. I love the country. It’s an awesome place.
England’s established players haven’t played much T20. Can you learn from the county specialists who have been drafted in?
They’ve more to learn from us. Playing international cricket is very different. There are completely different pressures. It’s much more intense.
How do you feel the format suits your game?
I’m a terrible Twenty20 player! I’ve not really taken to Twenty20; it’s not really my game. People think I’m suited to it because I’ll just go out and smash the ball straight away, but I’m at my best when I take 20 overs to build an innings. My best innings have all been like that. I prefer not to rush my game.
Looking at England’s ODI cricket, we’ve seen some real improvements since the World Cup, particularly with the fielding. What’s changed?
It was a long winter. I think maybe we were just out of energy. We were battered and battered by the Aussies and then battered by everyone else in the World Cup.
We knew things had to change. We knew we weren’t fulfilling our potential on a regular basis. We knew we had to be open and honest. We had to stop saying how good we are and start actually being good. We knew the fielding needed to improve. We needed regular runs from the batsmen and wickets from the opening bowlers.
Everyone has brought into it. Our performance in the field at Edgbaston was one of the best of any England team I’ve been involved in.
Colly has been chucked in the deep end as captain, but he’s doing really well. He’s fresh and he has a good approach. He’s similar to Vaughany in that he is very approachable and anyone can talk to him. I’m really conscious of helping ‘Colly’ out as much as I can. It’s a happy dressing room.
Colly seems to consult you a fair bit on the field…
I just try to help out as much as I can. I wouldn’t say I’m vice-captain or anything like that but Colly is heavily involved in the game, so he talks to me a lot and asks my opinions. Basically we just chuck a few things at each other like bowling changes and fielding positions. We read off a similar script.
We’re still a young team. The exciting thing is how much potential and talent the team has. We definitely went into the series against India as underdogs. They have three batsmen with 36,000 runs between them. None of us will get that amount in our whole careers between us. But I’ve said in a [team] meeting that if we fulfil our potential I don’t think anyone can beat us. We just need consistency to fulfil that potential.
How do you rate your own form?
It doesn’t matter how many runs I score: when we win I’m happy. I’ve scored so many runs for England in one-day cricket and we just keep losing and it’s just the worst thing ever. Personal performances don’t really bother me; they’re good for stats. But everyone wants to be in a winning dressing room. Anyway, I feel fine. I’ve scored quite a lot of runs this summer – close to 1,000 in all competitions. I take pride in my performances and want to be the best player I can be. But winning is the most important thing to me. If I get 0, 0, 0 and 0 but the side win, I’ll be the happiest bloke.
KP was announcing the 2008/9 opening of a new npower Urban Cricket Arena in Birmingham. Last year, npower Urban Cricket, run with the ECB, distributed over 40,000 Urban Cricket kits.
