Pakistan have appointed their former coach Mickey Arthur as director of cricket, the cricket board (PCB) said on Thursday. Ex-South Africa, Australia and Sri Lanka coach Arthur was in charge of Pakistan from 2016 to 2019 when they won the 2017 Champions Trophy and became the world’s top-ranked T20 team.Arthur, who was earlier the head coach of the side, will be responsible for 'designing, formulating, and overseeing strategies' for the team. He will also be part of the coaching staff for the 2023 World Cup.
Notably, Arthur was the head coach of Pakistan from 2016 to 2019. He led the team to the No.1 Test and T20I spot and also helped them win the 2017 Champions Trophy. PCB released a statement, confirming Arthur's appointment. "The Pakistan Cricket Board today confirmed Mickey Arthur’s appointment as the Director of the Pakistan men’s cricket team. In this role, Arthur will be involved in designing, formulating, and overseeing strategies behind the Pakistan men’s team," the statement added.
Meanwhile, Najam Sethi, Chair of the PCB Management Committee, was pleased with Arthur's appointment. “I am pleased that Mickey has formally rejoined the Pakistan men’s cricket team with an enhanced role in which he will be responsible for formulating and implementing strategies for the upcoming assignments across all formats. Furthermore, he will also be responsible for strengthening the national team culture, identifying and grooming future stars so that we can strengthen our bench-strength and strategically secure our future," Sethi said.
Arthur was offered a full-time coaching role but he turned down the offer as he wants to continue coaching the English county side, Derbyshire. "I am absolutely thrilled to be rejoining the Pakistan cricket team and look forward to working with the group," said Arthur. Since moving on, I have kept a track of the players and their collective performances. This is a talented bunch with the potential to be number one across all formats and my endeavour is to put in place strategies and create an environment that can contribute in further enhancing their performances so that we can extract the best out of them,” Arthur said on his appointment.
