Mickey Arthur is aware that this is the time of year when every coach will claim that the buildup to a forthcoming county season has never been greater. Yet he can’t help but say, “But we have!”
Why even bother going into April for the grueling six months of work if you can’t be upbeat in March? The experience Arthur had at Derbyshire during the last year, which he considers to be the first of a “four-year project,” has changed him. He is so clearly devoted to this mission that he was able to persuade PCB chair Najam Sethi of this. By allowing Arthur to accept a remote job as a consultant for the Pakistan men’s side, Sethi recently conceded ground. County governments rarely come out on top in these agreements.
The PCB’s first goal was to re-appoint Mickey Arthur as head coach because of his charisma with administrators, which is also effective with his team. He is one of the more devoted fans of contemporary cricket.
When Derbyshire acquired Arthur at the end of 2021, that characteristic was precisely what they required. In Division Two, the club had been a far-too-regular presence, floating aimlessly. 2013 saw their most recent foray into the top division. Dominic Cork, who made his Test debut in 1995, was the last player they produced for England. When English cricket is asking itself, “What exactly do you do here?,” with a scalpel, neither is especially helpful.
In the short term, the former is simpler to fix than the latter. Yet, there is currently optimism within the club that their present course under Arthur will eventually enable them to resolve both.
Perhaps these are the same noises every county makes when Andrew Strauss’ high performance rating is still hanging over their heads, especially those of Derbyshire’s caliber. Even if ideas have been softened or flatly rejected out of pure will, the future of cricket makes it more difficult to justify a right to exist.
According to Mickey Arthur, the goal of Derbsyhire’s demand is to improve the balance sheets while also purging the group of persistent underperformers.
He thinks the team’s reputation can be altered both on the field and in the locker room. He has undoubtedly utilized both of their perceptions as a means of influence.
He told ESPNcricinfo, “At times, I did utilize that as a motivation for us. We want to shift the idea that we are the county that people think of as ‘little old Derbyshire,’ even though we mostly succeeded in doing so last year.
During that first campaign, where a mental shift was needed internally, “it was the most crucial aspect of my job to make the dressing room think we weren’t here to make the numbers up,” he adds. Make the team think that we are here to win cricket matches and improve as players. to convey to the changing room that there were no safe havens there. We’re here to perform a task. We operate and function in a high-performance atmosphere, and that’s how things are done around here. There are none.
Those familiar with the workings of the Derbyshire dressing room say the culture has improved and, in turn, so has the robustness of the squad. As you would expect from someone who has led four different test teams, Arthur implemented “international standards” when it came to training intensity, preparation, recovery, and behavior—facets regarded as non-negotiables at the highest level.
Last season’s Division Two performances revealed this shift: Derbyshire only won three games, ultimately finishing fifth out of eight, but they only lost as many; six draws suggested an inner steel was developing; and all six stalemates occurred at home at the County Ground, where groundstaff were instructed to leave as little as 6mm of grass on their pitches; this suggests manufactured steel, to some extent.
We wanted to be a club that was tough to beat, which I think we were last year, says Arthur. “For too long, this group and a lot of those players in it have been whipping boys.
Our wickets here were very, very good; they didn’t deteriorate, making it difficult to bowl sides out. But with the points at 16 [for a win] and 8 [for a draw], I knew we could get two draws that were worth a win. “We played very good cricket; there were a lot of games we dominated, but we just didn’t finish it on day four.”
That strategy won’t work this season because there are only five points available for draws, but Arthur isn’t troubled about that. This was always going to be the summer he pushed the group to advance, according to his plan.
“I think we’re good enough. Now, rather than having 6mm of grass on the wicket, can we leave 10mm? Can we challenge ourselves that way? What kind of cricket do we play with that? If we leave that amount of grass, do we become a team that bowls first and chases on day four? That’s where our discussions in the dressing room have to go.
“The exciting part for me is going to be to see how much the players have left. I’m hoping to extract 20% more out of our players. How high is the ceiling there? Those are the questions we will, I believe, address this season.
Two 26-year-olds, however, represent Arthur’s early changes to the club and beyond. Leus Du Plooy has been given greater responsibility as captain in all formats; Matt Lamb has joined from Warwickshire to strengthen the batting reserves; and Shan Masood’s departure to Yorkshire was a blow.
Having been on the verge of being released a few years ago, Anuj Dal, a bustling all-rounder, has established himself as a lock at No. 7 and third-change seamer. Arthur refers to it as “deadman donkey labor,” but he came to realize his potential with 957 runs and 34 wickets in 2022.
“He comes in and bowls the donkey overs while either batting under pressure or when we’re cruising along. Although his profession is not glamorous, he did an excellent job of it last year, don’t you think? He has the correct attitude, making him the ideal choice for the job.
Although Dal, who started his cricket career in Nottinghamshire before leaving in 2017, spent an uncomfortable amount of time trying to find his place in the game, things are now abundantly obvious for the England Under-19 cricketer.
I want him to keep thinking he’s going to play for England from Derbyshire because I do feel he’s that brilliant, says Arthur, beaming as he acknowledges that he constantly badgers the player to dream big.
Zak Chappell, whose upside as a fast bowler is known throughout the country and the ECB’s performance department, who were made aware of his gifts during his initial progression at Leicestershire, joined on a two-year deal from a similar place Dal found himself: not just as a cricketer on the fringe at Notts but one enduring stasis.
Zak Chappell joins a team that shares his values because he is still driven, ambitious, and unwilling to let the past define him.
I wanted a player who wanted to come here to better himself, and he believed this was the environment that would do it for him, so for me, it was an easy sale,” says Mickey Arthur of Chappell’s signing. It was very close to being the ideal union. I don’t want a man who is only interested in playing county cricket for two years and has no other goals. I want a player who is coming to play for England to use us as a platform.
At this point, Mickey Arthur takes a moment to catch his breath and give that last statement some breathing room before continuing, “That’s almost the qualification now to come to Derbyshire.
The answer at this point is, well, it does not matter. Clearly, structures are in place, values are shared, and there is a united vision of what the future of Derbyshire County Cricket Club looks like. There is a legitimate question to be asked here that could be considered either philosophical or cynical: how much of the good feeling at the moment is linked to having a coach of Mickey Arthur caliber?
September will bring a clearer notion; Mickey Arthur has no qualms about that.
We can’t just make up figures; we need to think large. We’re here to compete, to force promotions, and to triumph in white-ball tournaments. That is the county we aspire to be.
India
