Former Australian coach and present Pakistan cricket team coach Mickey Arthur comes to support suspended Australian cricketer Steven Smith. While Arthur is not sure about David Warner’s future, he also disappointed with present Australian cricket team’s behaviour.
The ball-tampering scandal hit the Australian cricket hugely as Cricket Australia (CA) has suspended Steven Smith & David Warner for 12 months and Cameron Bancroft for nine months from the international and domestic cricket.
In the addition, Smith and Bancroft will have to wait one more year after the end of their suspensions to be able for leading the national side once again, while Warner will never be able to lead the national side again.
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Speaking about them, 49-years old Mickey Arthur said, “I feel desperately sorry for Smith. I know he eats, sleeps and drinks cricket. He loves cricket and everything he did. He loved the job, he was passionate about the job. I think he was a very good leader and an unbelievable cricketer.”
Talking about their return in international cricket, Arthur is sure about Smith for his return but not sure on Warner’s comeback.
Arthur said on that, “I definitely see the return of Smith, without a doubt. He will be there, he will serve his time, he will train hard and he will come back stronger. Davey Warner, I am not a hundred percent sure.”
Arthur was the coach of Australian cricket team until the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy. But, he felt disappointed on the recent behaviours of Australian cricket team.
Speaking on that, Arthur said, “I have been disappointed at the behaviour of the Australian team over a last couple of years, to be honest. I think that they felt they are almost above everybody else so that’s been disappointing because they are a good enough cricket team, they are skilled enough cricketers to win games without resorting to the kind of tactics they have.”
He further added, “I am disappointed for the knock that Australian cricket is taking at the moment and world cricket in general, so it’s a disappointing and sad time for world cricket. They need to play hard but they need to play fair. The verbal sledging and we have seen scuffles in tunnels and faux pas on the field and now the ball-tampering, and I think that has just gone a little bit too far.
“I think this is a reality check for them and hopefully it does Australian cricket some good and they rebound back from it because the cricket world needs Australia fit and firing because they are a hell of a good team when they are.”
There is a lot of serious incidents happened in the international cricket during this month. Starting from David Warner-Quinton de Kock off-field verbal fights, international cricket has seen Kagiso Rabada’s shoulder hit to Steven Smith, Shakib Al Hasan’s behaviour on the sideline (calling players off the field against Sri Lanka), the most controversial ball-tampering etc.
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Speaking on that, Arthur said, “I think over the last few months the behaviour has been abysmal in international cricket. We have seen Bangladesh captain (Shakib Al Hasan) calling players off the field, we have seen Bangladesh breaking a window in the dressing room, we have seen dances on the ground.
“We have seen tunnel scuffles (between Warner and de Kock), we have seen Rabada… we have seen a ball dropped on AB de Villiers’s head, so I think behaviours certainly need to be addressed.”
