Lack of international games denting Pakistan cricket says Arthur

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s newly appointed coach Mickey Arthur feels that dearth of international cricket at home has damaged Pakistan cricket and termed it as one of the reasons behind Pakistan’s decline in the game.The former Australia and South Africa coach said that Pakistani batsmen will have to play an important role to achieve results for the team.’Pakistan is playing all the cricket outside the country. Every time they play it is an away series which is really hard. It is always difficult playing outside your condition and it has dented Pakistan cricket’, in an exclusive interview with a private news channel Arthur said.The South African-born coach said that he picked up the role of coaching Pakistan team considering it as a big challenge and that he was looking forward to deliver results but demanded consistency in team decisions for any positive outcome.’I think it’s a great challenge. Pakistan cricket has struggled a little bit in the last couple of years and certainly I am keen to bring it back to its rightful place in the ranking and the rightful place in world cricket’, he said.Talking about his first assignment with Pakistan team, the tour of England, Arthur said that the series will be a big challenge for the players and key will be to learn how to perform outside the United Arab Emirates, where Pakistan has been playing most of its cricket recently.’Pakistan has got a wonderful group of bowlers. We need to work on batting, particularly outside the UAE, and that will be key. Also we need to bring the fielding up to standards of international level,’ he added.’It will be a challenge for players that how they are going to handle the conditions outside the UAE and Pakistan. You need your batsmen to step up and score runs. So technically we need to work really hard to get our batting 100 percent right’, said 47-year-old former cricketer.During Arthur’s coaching stint, South Africa reached the top in all the three formats.Arthur said he is confident that Pakistan can also achieve the top position but warned that it can be achieved only if there is consistency in team decisions. ‘You need opportunity and time to build the team in order to achieve the result. We need to be consistent with our selections, we need to be consistent with our players and we need to allow players to express themselves without any consequences.’That’s the key, players need to find out how they go about and play in certain situations. I hope we can give the players that experience and make sure they go forward’, he said.Arthur said he did not feel any language barrier while working with Pakistani players during the Pakistan Super League earlier this year, where he coached the team Karachi Kings but added that he would still look to have a local coach as his assistant so that his message is not lost in translation.’I will have a local coach as my assistant who can deliver my message to the guys. That is quite important. But language barrier wasn’t a problem in PSL and I hope it won’t be a problem while coaching Pakistan as well’, he said.Sharing his PSL experience Arthur said that his experience of working with Pakistani players was excellent as they pose immense talent.’I was very impressed with the talent in the PSL. There were very good young and useful players. I think with the right guidance and environment, these guys can become very very good players.Their skill level is very high’, he said.Arthur, who is currently in Perth, said he will join the Pakistan team by the end of this month.’