Unease at Arthur appointment

Thank you to Gareth for alerting me to a piece on the Island Cricket Twitter feed today, which said that Mickey Arthur will take charge of the Sri Lankan squad for the two-Test series against West Indies, starting on November 21. The following is taken from the article:

Arthur’s two-year contract with Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) ends in the first week of December, but SLC sources said that he and several other members of the support staff whose contracts also end during the same period have been asked to continue till the end of the West Indies Test series. The Test series ends on 3 December.

“We are in the process of evaluating their performances and that would be discussed further with the Technical Advisory Committee before we take a call on it,” stated an SLC source. “We have informed the support staff to continue until the end of the West Indies Test series.”

With regard to the approach made by Derbyshire, SLC sources said that they have only seen media reports about it, but have not heard anything from Arthur.

My concern is that we are prepared to wait until early December and then find out that not only is Arthur's contract extended by Sri Lanka, but option two, a very good coach who will be in demand, also has another role by that stage. Derbyshire are then back to square one and looking for a new coach with only two or three months to the season and large gaps in the squad to fill.

That Sri Lanka seem to know little about our 'approach' is a concern. That there was a two - stage interview that he had to apply for - therefore we never made one - is even more so.

It just seems a bit of a mess, potentially a protracted mess. Even worse, a protracted mess that may end up with the club in yet another pickle and with neither of their preferred candidates available..

If Arthur wants the Derbyshire job, let him take it, now the World Cup is over, or at least confirm he is going to do so.

If not, let's get the alternative in, the players introduced, new ones brought in and the next phase of our history underway.

The club and its supporters deserve that.