Arthur Prefers Life In Fast Lane

Richard Edwards talk to the Pakistan coach and discovers some surface tension before the series against Australia.

- Richard Edwards

All eyes will be on Australia this Sunday, as they take to the field for their first Test since the ball tampering scandal erupted in Cape Town back in March.

And Mickey Arthur is hoping to give Australian cricket further reason for introspection in Dubai.

The Pakistan coach is still smarting from Pakistan’s poor displays in the Asia Cup, in which his team was knocked out at the Super Four stage – and suffered a nine-wicket hiding at the hands of India in world cricket’s greatest grudge match.

With the memory of that humiliation still fresh in the mind, Arthur is hopeful that the sport’s longest format can offer greater reasons to be cheerful.

Although he admits that the home comforts of the UAE aren’t doing his side too many favours.

“I think we’re at our best when the ball is swinging and there’s life in the pitches, I think that’s what you saw during the England tour earlier in the year,” he says.

“It seems a contradiction to say it but we’re better suited to playing in England than the UAE – when we have those four seamers and the ball is moving then we’re very, very dangerous.