In an exclusive interview, Mickey Arthur has opened up about Sri Lanka's new game plan in limited-overs cricket, their promising core in Test cricket, about bio-bubble life and more.
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After a bittersweet 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup, Mickey Arthur was appointed as Sri Lanka’s head coach. Under the guidance of Arthur, Sri Lanka are all set to look forward and take up the new challenge under its revamped ODI structure. Kusal Perera will lead the side in Bangladesh in the upcoming three-match ODI series, starting on May 23 in Bangladesh. But it’s going to hold massive significance for Sri Lanka.
Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal and Dimuth Karunaratne have been overlooked for the series in Bangladesh. If one has to believe Mickey Arthur, the team is all set to start afresh in 50-over cricket.
In an exclusive interview with sportslumo.com, Mickey Arthur has opened up about Sri Lanka’s new game plan in limited-overs cricket, their promising core in Test cricket, about bio-bubble life and more.
No, I think it’s taken me up until now just to assess exactly where we are at. Even though I’ve been here a long time, we have played six ODIs and six T20Is in that period. We have had a lot of Test cricket.
This is a new project with our logical team now. It really is. So we are starting afresh again. I’ve looked at trends, the opposition, our competitors. I’ve looked at what the best in the world are doing and how they are playing the game. I have looked at the ODI structure. So, it is clear we needed to go in a different direction. I think we’ve got the personnel and the structure. We’ve got the game plan as you say you’ve just got to go and just let those guys play now.
The key for me is giving the players the roots to grow in the wings to fly. Now the roots to grow is the clear structure around the game plan, a clear structure around their technique. The wings to fly, they’ve got to play within their characters. And we’ve selected a team of characters now that if they play well, it’s going to be very exciting to watch.
I’ve only had two ODI series since I’ve been in Sri Lanka. One was before COVID, where we beat the West Indies 3-0. But, we lost in the West Indies 3-0. We’ve revamped our team totally now. We’ve worked on a game plan and are taking a close look at the structure of our team. It took me until the end of the West Indies series. I’d seen enough and it was time now to to to try and move this.
Our white-ball team is going in a direction that’s going to challenge the rest of the world at some point. Because if we are being realistic with ourselves, we are languishing at the bottom,. I say I’ve come in and inherited the situation. We’ve got to be doing something different.
So we’ve looked at the brand of cricket replay, we’ve looked at personnel, we’ve looked at clear role clarity through different situations. And we think we’ve come up with quite a nice, exciting combination. This will be tested in Bangladesh. So, I’m really excited to see how this combination works. I just want us to keep growing and keep challenging ourselves. Because if we do that, I know with the talent we’ve got, we will win more games and will lose so. That’s obviously the challenge. The challenge is a new beginning. It’s a fresh journey now. And we’ve got to give these guys an opportunity to grow into their roles.
We’ve also got to allow them the freedom to play knowing that we’re going to be consistent with our game plans. And we’re going to be consistent with our selections going forward.
I started with Sri Lanka in November 2019. And we had two series, and then COVID hit. So I spent a lot on lockdown in Colombo. And I haven’t been back to Australia since I started this job, just through COVID. Since we started again in December, we’ve played almost non-stop and have lived in the bubble. And I think out of the 2220 days that we worked, we’ve spent 185, either in quarantine or in the bio bubble. So it’s been tough, but it’s like the new normal. I think we are lucky to be actually doing the job we are doing. You know, there’s so many people that have been affected by COVID. I think we’ve just got to be grateful we’ve been allowed to carry on doing our job.
I haven’t been back to Australia since. I’ve got family in South Africa, my eldest daughter is in South Africa. And I’ve just become a grandfather. But when we were in the bubble in South Africa in December, I couldn’t see anybody. So yeah, so it’s been tough. It’s not ideal. It’s unnatural and not a great life. We’ve got to be grateful when you look at what’s going on around the world at the moment.
Now at the end of the Bangladesh series [which Sri Lanka won 1-0 at home], we know that our Test cricket is in safe hands. We’ve created depth, we’ve created consistency, we’ve created clear roles. We’ve created a solid team that’s tough to beat. I always tell our players in Test cricket that you’ve got to be a team that’s tough to beat before you become a winning team. We’re a team that’s tough to beat at the moment. So I’m comfortable. Because of the consistency and the game time that we’ve had with our test team. I’m comfortable now knowing that our Test team we’ve created depth in all areas. I’m happy with that.
