OTD | Former South African batter Mickey Arthur was born in 1968

On this day, back in 1968, former South African cricketer Mickey Arthur was born, who has played a great role in guiding his side to the pinnacle of the level. Notably, the former batting legend has been serving as the head coach of the Derbyshire County Cricket Club since November 2021.

Speaking about his coaching journey, he coached the South African national team from 2005 to 2010, while he was appointed as Australia’s coach from 2010 to 2013. Notably, Mickey Arthur was the first coach ever to guide the South African side to a Test win against Australia in 2008, which helped them get the number one ranking.

However, Pakistan Cricket appointed him as the head coach from 2006 to 2009, where he played a great role as the Men in Green were able to defeat MS Dhoni-led team India during the 2017 Champions Trophy held back in England. This was the first time the Pakistan cricket team was able to manage to get a win since the start of the tournament in 1998 when they scored 180 runs against arch-rivals India.

Following the Champions Trophy 2017, Pakistan went on to whitewash Sri Lanka in an ODI and T20I series after losing the Test series under his coaching skills. Mickey Arthur also guided the Pakistan side to win the triangular series between Zimbabwe and Australia, where Pakistan outclassed the Aussies with six wickets in the final game to get the number one T20I ranking.

Unfortunately, the Pakistan Cricket Board did not renew his contract after 2019, but he was yet again called up in 2023 as the team’s director. However, Arthur stepped down from his role after the Babar Azam-led Pakistan side failed to reach the semi-final spot in the ODI World Cup 2023 after their poor performances in the league stage matches. In addition, Arthur was making bold headlines with his unpretentious comments when Pakistan lost to India in the league stage game of the ODI World Cup 2023.