Pakistan, Arthur unite in quest for redemption

The main event of the English summer is drawing ever closer, and what a feisty first act it promises to serve up: the return of Pakistan and Mohammad Amir to Lord's, the scene of the crime on the 2010 tour and, now, an opportunity for redemption six years later.

But, before the storm, the calm. For Pakistan's cricketers, lest it has gone unnoticed, have already been in England for more than a week - holed up at the Ageas Bowl on the outskirts of Southampton, honing their techniques on the practice square behind the East Stand, and sitting tight in the newly completed Hilton hotel at the northern end of the ground, awaiting their call to centre stage.

It's a scenario that could hardly feel more of a rarity in this day and age. England's exhaustively planned Ashes campaign in 2010-11 involved a similarly lengthy acclimatisation period - and how Andrew Strauss's men reaped the rewards as that series progressed. But by and large, Test tours in the Twenty20 era are suck-it-and-see affairs, as visiting teams get parachuted into alien conditions, rush through the motions with a handful of low-key warm-ups, and, as often than not, come unstuck as a consequence.

The fact that Pakistan are laying such diligent foundations for this tour is, of course, as much to do with PR as practice. The PCB's desperation to atone for the team's disgrace in 2010 means that it is leaving nothing to chance, or indeed, suspicion - the last thing they want is for an under-prepared team to come unstuck in the same manner that Sri Lanka's batsmen did at Headingley and Chester-le-Street earlier this summer.

To that end, the Ageas Bowl's legendary remoteness is ideal. A self-contained bubble of a venue, not dissimilar in its self-sufficiency to a motorway service station, it is - as Scyld Berry noted in the Sunday Telegraph last week - "far from the bright lights and distractions of uncles and cousins dropping in for selfies, and less savoury hangers-on".

It is also a venue that has witnessed the first stirrings of a fascinating social experiment - one that seeks to apply such notions as conformity and best practice to a nation whose on-field representatives are rarely advocates of unnecessary discipline.

And yet, in uniting the languid leadership of Misbah-ul-Haq with the clipped and urgent managerial processes favoured by Mickey Arthur, Pakistan have set an improbably high bar for themselves on this tour. And who knows, given everything that's at stake - all the scrutiny and payback and desire to prove people wrong - it might yet be a partnership that serves the ultimate purpose.

"This team did really well after 2010," Arthur said, "but now it's time, while we are here where it happened, to prove by playing good cricket and with good conduct off the field, that we can be a force at international level. It's a good opportunity for us to perform here, not only on the field but off the field also."

Arthur, of course, has his own reasons for seeking redemption on this trip. It was three years ago this week, at the identical stage of his team's preparations ahead of the 2013 Ashes, that Arthur was dropkicked from his role as Australia's coach to be replaced by Darren Lehmann.

The reports of that saga, he protested now, were "totally way off the pace of what happened" but the surface-level evidence seemed plain enough to the layman. Australia's senior players baulked at what they perceived as a nitpicking attitude to team discipline - culminating, of course, in the infamous suspension of four players for failing to complete their "homework" during a 4-0 series loss in India.

Reports, therefore, of Yasir Shah - only recently restored to the Test squad after serving a three-month ban for a doping violation - rocking up to a training camp in Lahore and protesting "I'm only two days late" are perhaps a harbinger of challenges to come. But for the time being, Arthur is sticking to the methods that he has honed throughout his career and which, let's not forget, have triumphed in England before, on South Africa's Test tour in 2008.

"I am sick and tired of talking about homework-gate, but in terms of running teams there are ways of doing it," he said. "You go back and analyse and think about it, and I've obviously learnt a hell of a lot from that experience, but I haven't changed my style because I don't think you can compromise on what you think is the right way to work."

It will help Arthur's cause, no doubt, to have been united with a leader of Misbah's stature and groundedness - the manner in which Pakistan's captain commands respect is reminiscent of the heyday of Arthur's partnership with Graeme Smith - and the signs are so far encouraging that the new partnership is gelling well.

"Mickey will work more on discipline in our training sessions and fitness," Misbah said. "That is the key if you want to perform consistently. When it comes to stability on the ground, it's my job to look after the players and the team. These are the two key factors in our performance. If you want to perform consistently, without discipline and stability it is impossible."

"What we do is just give structure," Arthur added of his coaching team, which includes the former Zimbabwe batsman Grant Flower and Mushtaq Ahmed, the Pakistan spinner who was until recently an insider in England's dressing room. "We try to make sure every guy is totally aware of his role, and contrary to what's been written, I'm very personable in terms of working with the players.

"We want to cultivate a culture of greatness, we want everything to be done at best practice, and at the highest level," he added. "And that, for me as a coach, is the non-negotiable. When you are coaching internationally, you have to do the best things more often. You have to have an environment which is one of excellence. An environment that's mediocre means mediocre results. We push the players to make sure they are in the best possible space to execute their skills, which are outstanding."

Despite the windy language (some of which, you suspect, might get lost in translation into Urdu) Arthur is not wrong on that final point, and in Amir and Yasir - a matchwinning legspinner fit to inherit the mantle passed down from Abdul Qadir to Mushtaq and Danish Kaneria before him - he has at his disposal two of the most skilful executors that he has ever been able to work with in an international squad

"The skill levels the Pakistan team have are unbelievable," Arthur said. "But, having coached against Pakistan, and watched Pakistan for ages, good has been unbelievable and bad has been very poor. For me I'm trying to make sure the good and bad get a lot closer together, so that we get more consistency.

"Other teams have fitness levels, structures and self-disciplines in knowing their own game, so I'm trying to get patience into the skills. Mohammad Amir, and Sohail Khan, they like to bowl outswinger, outswinger, inswinger - so I just want them to hold those lines a little bit longer. The patience isn't what other teams are, but skill levels are higher."

Where Amir is concerned, Arthur knows that his role could extend into the pastoral as he seeks to restore his reputation as one of the most thrilling young Test cricketers of his generation.

"He's been outstanding," Arthur said. "His training has been excellent, he's fitted back into the team exceptionally well, his team-mates have worked brilliantly with him, and as I said, it's up to me and the coaching staff to make him the best he can possibly be in these conditions. We all understand he's going to be under the microscope and he realises that too. And the way he's trying to handle that is to let his performances do the talking."

The challenge of winning a Test series in English conditions is among the toughest assignments in the world game - Pakistan have not achieved the feat since the heyday of Wasim and Waqar in 1992 and 1996. And notwithstanding the intensity of their preparations and the talent at their disposal, Arthur knows that backing up their 2-0 series win in the UAE last winter will require a special performance.

"I really do think if we play our best cricket we are as good as anyone in the world," he said. "We've discussed it as a team, it's like playing at the South Pole versus the North Pole, just as England struggle coming to the UAE so Asian teams have struggled coming to places like England, South Africa and Australia. But the preparation has been outstanding, technically I've been really happy and the guys have responded.

"We make no bones about the fact that we want to be the Manchester United, or should I say the Arsenal, of world cricket. We believe that every player in our squad, from 1 to 16, believes they can create a bit of history."