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Mickey Arthur's resignation
SA board to be restructured next month
Cricinfo staff
January 27, 2010
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Mickey Arthur explains the reasons for his resignation
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News : South African cricket set for revamp
News : South Africa selection panel sacked Features : Another coach derailed News : Arthur quits as South Africa coach News : Pressure from above led to Arthur departure Players/Officials:
Mickey Arthur
| Corrie van Zyl
Teams:
South Africa
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Cricket South Africa is set for a structural overhaul at a meeting on February 19, the board's chief executive Gerald Majola has said. Majola was speaking at a press conference on Wednesday following the resignation of coach Mickey Arthur and the sacking of the selection panel.
The interim selection committee, which will replace the one led by Mike Procter, comprises Majola, high performance manager Corrie van Zyl, who has also been appointed as interim coach, and former captain Kepler Wessels, who will also be the team's batting consultant.
"Cricket South Africa is looking at the entire structure the team operates under and there are still consultations going on," Majola said. "Some of these are about selection too and the whole process by which the team is selected.
"In the last few years, the coach has been able to appoint his own staff, but after speaking to the players, the board felt changes were necessary. Mickey did not believe that if these changes were made, he'd be able to choose his own people, so he moved on."
Arthur, who resigned as South Africa coach on Tuesday, said he made the decision because his vision for the national team differed with that of CSA.
"It was clear that the vision I had and Cricket South Africa's vision are different. I am disappointed, because when I started there I said I wanted to get South Africa to No. 1 in both forms of the game, I wanted to be the first South African coach to win in England, and the first to win in Australia," Arthur said. "The only thing I didn't achieve was an ICC trophy."
"We believe as a board that Mickey has been very successful," Majola said. "His resignation came through the normal stock-taking process which followed the England home series and against the backdrop of the disappointing results of 2009. As this process unfolded and remedies were sought, Mickey expressed the very honest and humble view that he did not believe that at this stage he could continue as coach of the Proteas.
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"In the circumstances, he tendered his resignation and it is with much regret that the CSA Board accepted it. We have accepted Mickey's view that a change at the coaching helm is needed, and we have made this as seamless as possible by bringing in on a caretaker basis the considerable expertise of Corrie van Zyl, who is doing outstanding work as CSA's High Performance Coach."
Arthur said he was going to bide his time before taking on another assignment. "I'm not going to be jumping into anything too soon and I might dabble into a few other things and see where that takes me. I think I will consider anything that comes down the line. I will sit and wait for the right opportunity and the best opportunity where I can make an impact."
Graeme Smith, the South Africa captain, said of Arthur: "The two of us have had a great partnership over five years, we had a good relationship, Mickey was integral in bringing a lot of calm to the team. Yesterday was a very tough day for us."
"I think its natural for the players to have some emotion now, Mickey has been part of our life for five years. The players will try and be as professional as possible. We know this [India] is an important tour."
Arthur's resignation came four days before South Africa are scheduled to depart for India and Van Zyl will now be in charge of the team for that assignment. "It's not the ideal situation to take over now, but I have worked with Mickey before," van Zyl said. "I had been focusing on the high performance centre till Monday, but I will meet with the captain in Cape Town tomorrow to prepare for India."
© ESPN EMEA Ltd.
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EBA_1 : " But most importantly it looks like India can put two different teams together and still beat any team in the world in any format" - only problem is that they haven't been able to recently. Remember the ODI series vs Aus in India late last year? Will be interesting to see how they fare against SA.
Posted by indian_cric_lover on (January 29 2010, 03:03 AM GMT)I am all for affirmative action, in countries like India, South Africa, US etc all of which suffered massive historical discrimination. But I think doing it in international team which is competing with other teams in the world is a little short-sighted. Affirmative action should be more in education and in public and private sector jobs that too at the entry level only. After getting an entry, one should move up on merit.
Posted by yottiejohn on (January 29 2010, 01:30 AM GMT)Folks this is all about "Quotas" The moment Ntini was out the side (and rightly so based on recent form) there was always going to be howls of indignation from QUOTA PROMOTERS Don't be surprised if the next step is mass "retirements" and/or KOLPAK contracts for many of the existing SA cricket side, Imagine the furore and howls of indignation in Australia, India, Pakistan if the Govts dictated - how many Aborigines/caste member etc they had in the side ? In England if they were told - they MUST have a certain number of home born and trained Englishmen ? Of all the ICC members England will relish this development the most, now there will be an even bigger crop of fresh young SA born/coached world class cricketers available to poach, the cricketers desperate to excel at their chosen sport will have no option But we the cricket fans wil lstill be expected to pay 1st class prices for less than worldclass talent CRICKET IS BIGGER THAN THESE RACIST - KICK EM OUT
Posted by BD01 on (January 29 2010, 00:38 AM GMT)What a mess! And what about the appointments of Wessels and Van Zyl..? What are CSA thinking - coach and selector? You'd think by now CSA might have learnt something from other nations mistakes. Can you imagine AB or JP telling Kepler, the teams batting consultant, they have a technical flaw or feel out of form, when they know he is also a selector..? This is crazy stuff from CSA. I'm a huge fan of Wessels, but he is the exact opposite of what this team needs right now. They need to be encouraged to play more positively, take more risks, look what happened at the Wanderers when they did exactly that. Wessels was the ideal leader during SA's re-entry to the fold when being competitive without necessarily winning was seen as a good result, but those days are long gone. Graeme Smith has grown into one of the finest leaders in world cricket, he and his team don't need to be shackled by conservative coaches or inept administrators. Gerald, text Warnie - right now! Problem solved..!
Posted by crikkfan on (January 28 2010, 19:55 PM GMT)A little bit of Pakistan and a litle bit of West Indies has rubbed on SA cricket politics! Hope the upcoming series against Ind is exciting!
Posted by mmoosa on (January 28 2010, 17:30 PM GMT)Smith has to have the team he wants as Border/Waugh etc would have inisisted. This includes backroom staff who play a critical "fine tuning" and mentoring role. The national teams only burden should be to win and all structures from grassroot levels to the highest level should support this as well as politicians and administrators. Thats why Gerald Majola should resign with no notice period because as head honcho he has failed to deliver handsomely. Vince van der Bijl,Procter,Rice,GPollock,etc are all better qualified than Majola irrespective of skin colour. Lets not bother whether we have 11 white guys,black,indian,coloured players-after all they are all South Africans.Their passport says so!
Posted by George2009 on (January 28 2010, 15:53 PM GMT)I think that the team should have a big shake up. Gibbs should be awared for his incredible contribution to the team. He should open the batting in the ODI's in India with Smith. Also Prince and Duminy both failed miserbly in the England test Series. Gibbs maybe brought into the test team to bring the experience and batting power in the middle order. Amla playing brilliantly as well as Smith, De Villiers, Boucher ect.
Posted by Parth_Pala on (January 28 2010, 14:54 PM GMT)Those who blame Smith for this incident seriously need to have themselves examined by medical proffesional. The more likelier of explanation is that there was a power struggle between the selectors, and Mickey Arthur who wanted players to be based on their ability. While the political parties and Majola wanted players selected on the basis of their colour. The reality is that S.A cricket is no longer in the apartheid era , the team id diverse and players merit their selection through performance so this affirmative action is getting ridiculous. This whole sacking business seems like a crank call gone bad. As an Indian this upcoming series which everyone here was looking forward has been slightly dimmed as a result of this fiasco.
Posted by SuperSharky on (January 28 2010, 13:52 PM GMT)To IAJpak: Being from Pakistan I can understand why you don't see any issues (in South African politics). But don't you find the timing ( 4 days to touring India ) a little bit odd? Would someone (that still wanted to achieve an ICC Trophy) give up his salary just because he has reached most of his goals? By that reason, when will Sir Alex Ferguson step down as Manchester United manager?
Posted by PlumedgeXI on (January 28 2010, 13:37 PM GMT)SuperSharkyspeaks the truth. Blacks are not involved in cricket as it is an issue of culture. Things will change naturally as more and more blacks are exposed to the game. However what Cricket SA are trying to achieve at present is success. The Blacks that do come through tend to be those that go to certain schools, much like in the UK.. CSA needs to focus on the youth and let the natrual progression take place. Ntini's story is amazing but a rarity. Plus sport starts in the home where parents encourage kids that take a natural liking to a sport due to cultural environment. The whites in SA, Zim, UK have this cultural set up as cricket and rugby is appreciated by whites more. Now in the black home soccer is played and appereciated more. That will change, but not with the current generation of elders..