By Dhammika Ratnaweera
Sri Lanka’s newly appoint cricket head coach Mickey Arthur said that he was impressed with the level of fitness of Sri Lankan cricketers at the press briefing held at SLC headquarters. “The amount of talent that we have here is great. But teaching them how to use that talent and when to use that talent is what is exciting for me. We have the ICC Test Championship and ICC T20 World Cup just around the corner. We are in it to win it. Every time we go out on the field, we represent a very proud cricket nation. We want to go and win every game we play”. the new coach added.
According to Sri Lanka Cricket, Former South African Mickey Arthur assumed his duties as ‘Consultant Head Coach’ of the Sri Lanka national Cricket team on 4th December 2019 for a 2-year contract period.
Mickey Arthur further said that his secret mantra was hard work. “When I came to Pakistan they were lagging behind the race and they made it up. It was exciting to see those players develop and it was a great journey to go on. We can always improve. We will train like the best in the world train.” Arthur showed signs of a lot of training and hard work for a bunch of lazy Sri Lankan cricketers.
Arthur an experienced coach also talked about the future plans to focus on the T-20 world cup and said that they had got only eight months ahead of the T-20 world cup in Australia and that their short tour to India in next January will be really important. “We have got to build a brand that will be successful in Australia and then we got to put the players around that brand, give them a clear role and stick with them being consistent with selections. Australia will be tough but we have got to find a way to compete there” said coach Arthur.
Arthur previously coached South Africa from 2005 to 2010, and Australia from 2011 to 2013 before his most recent three-year assignment with Pakistan where Pakistan reached the highest rank in T20Is and won the Champions Trophy 2017. Arthur will become Sri Lanka’s 11th head coach in the past eight years.
Meanwhile, SLC also announced five more appointments for Sri Lanka cricket, Grant Flower – National Batting Coach & Head Coach of Sri Lanka A team, David Saker – National Fast Bowling Coach, Shane McDermott – National Fielding Coach, Jerome Jayaratne – Chief Cricket Operating Officer, Tim McCaskill – Head of National Cricket Development
Mickey Arthur’s first assignment for Sri Lanka will be against his previous team, Pakistan in a 2 Test Match tour in Rawalpindi and Karachi while Sri Lanka will travel next to India for a 3-match T20I series.
Caption
Sri Lankan new cricket coach Mickey Arthur is briefing the media at the SLC headquarters. Also is the picture SLC President Shammi Silva, Secretary Mohan de Silva, CEO Ashley de Silva and Chief operation office Jerome Jayaratna.
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