Removing Mickey Arthur as coach was a tough decision, says Wasim Khan
PCB’s chief executive Wasim Khan has stated that removing Mickey Arthur was not an easy decision for the Pakistan Cricket Board, stating that the latter had done some great work for Pakistan cricket. Khan added that they had to make the decision due to the new regime and new domestic structure.
PCB's cricket committee, which has the likes of Misbah-ul-Haq and Wasim Akram, carried out a review of Arthur's tenure before deciding against renewing the contract. It hurt Arthur especially because Misbah resigned from the position and became Arthur’s successor, which propelled the former to openly speak about it.
In the wake of it, Khan said that the cricket committee had held a robust meeting and asked a lot of tough questions to Arthur, before deciding to move on, which he said wasn’t easy.
“The first question we asked ourselves was whether we were happy to be number seven in Tests and number six in One-dayers. Are we happy that we have been inconsistent over a long period of time?” Khan was quoted as saying by Sportstar.
“In Mickey’s defence, he did a lot of good things for Pakistan cricket. But we had to make a tough decision, it’s is a new regime, new domestic structure and we needed to be sustainable, have a proper succession plan for our leaders and coaches in Pakistan cricket.”
Pakistan brought a wholesome change to their domestic structure, and instead of allowing banks and corporates playing in the tournament, they created six provincial regions which will form the core of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy.
“Because red ball cricket matters to us it is the health check of any cricket playing country. ODI and T20 cricket is important I am not demeaning them but Test cricket matters to us.”