The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman, Najam Sethi, confirmed the return of Mickey Arthur as the head coach of Pakistan’s national cricket team while speaking to the media on Monday, January 23rd. Current head coach and former Pakistan spinner Saqlain Mushtaq has decided not to renew his coaching contract with the men’s national side.
It’s no secret that the new PCB Chairman has been keen to bring back Arthur as the head coach for the men’s team. Sethi confirmed the news and said he was personally in negotiations with Arthur for the role. “I am personally in negotiations with Mickey (Arthur) and we have resolved 90 percent of issues. Hopefully, we will very soon share the news that Mickey will be joining us. I would like him to build his own team of coaches once he is here,” Sethi said at the press conference.
The 54-year-old Arthur was recently the head coach for English county side Derbyshire and Dambulla Aura in the Lanka Premier League (LPL). He was also the coach for Pakistan’s national team during 2016-19 and helped the team win the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy and claim the No.1 spot in ICC T20I rankings. But, following the poor outing in the 2019 World Cup, the PCB decided to terminate his contract.
With his second stint with the Pakistan national team on the cards, Arthur is likely to announce his contract termination with Derbyshire in the coming weeks. Apart from sharing the news on Arthur’s appointment, Sethi also appointed former batter Haroon Rasheed as the chief of the national selection committee, replacing former star all-rounder Shahid Afridi who held the post on an interim basis earlier.
