Members of Pakistan cricket committee broke my trust: Mickey Arthur

Mickey Arthur was appointed as the coach of the Pakistan national cricket team back in May 2016. Following a roller coaster ride, his tenure came to an end after the 2019 World Cup in England and Wales. Pakistan couldn’t progress beyond the league stage in the mega event and it didn’t help Arthur’s cause by any means. In fact, the entire support staff of the side underwent a change.

The former coach has now opened up and said the members of the Pakistan cricket committee, whom he trusted a lot, didn’t follow through. Arthur had shown keenness to continue as the head coach of the side and had a discussion about it with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) hierarchy. However, the committee decided to not renew Arthur’s contract after carrying out a review.

“I guess the only disappointment I have out of the whole lot is that there were some people I really trusted who ultimately didn’t follow through. I’m not talking about the hierarchy; I’m talking about people on the cricket committee that I did trust who sort of said one thing and ultimately did another. So that was the disappointing aspect of it,” Arthur told ESPNcricinfo.

Those were guys I endorsed and guys I really enjoyed

The committee had the likes of Misbah-ul-Haq and Wasim Akram. Arthur said that he had recommended Misbah and Akram’s name when the committee was being set up by PCB chairman Ehsan Mani. It also had Wasim Khan, Haroon Rasheed, Zakir Khan, Mudassar Nazar, Urooj Mumtaz. The fact the ,Misbah became the head coach didn’t seem to go down well with Arthur.

“Those were guys I endorsed and guys I really enjoyed. As I say, they had a job to do and they decided it was in the best interests of Pakistan cricket to go with a fresh set of eyes. And it just happened to be that Misbah was on the committee that didn’t renew our contracts and becomes this heir-apparent,” the South African stated.

Arthur believes that Misbah will do good for Pakistan cricket, but didn’t miss out on expressing his disappointment for not being able to continue as the head coach of the Pakistan team. “Ultimately Misbah will do a good job, Misbah is a good guy and Pakistan cricket made their decision. I was disappointed because I loved every second of that job,” he added.

Watch: 5 Cricketers who played for two countries