Pakistan tour of SA

Feb 6, 2013
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I don’t necessarily agree with this sort of approach but do you really think during certain successful eras of Australian cricket, that this sort of thing didn’t happen? Border and Simpson for example? Maybe not to that extent but certainly they wouldn’t have hidden from explicitly delivering some home truths from time to time.
Border and Simpson built successful sides, Arthur has gotten himself run out of Australia, South Africa, and if they know what's good for them Pakistan soon with his toxic approach.
 
May 5, 2016
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Border and Simpson built successful sides, Arthur has gotten himself run out of Australia, South Africa, and if they know what's good for them Pakistan soon with his toxic approach.

Arthur took SA to the top of test cricket over a 5 year tenure before quitting due to differences with what most people agree is a fairly disfunctional board.

Aside from the ridiculous homework tour to India he won 10 of 15 tests while he was in charge of Australia too.

I get the distinct impression that he is simply unwilling to put being liked ahead of being successful or effective. It’s pretty clear the bloke knows a bit about coaching the sport.
 
Feb 6, 2013
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Arthur took SA to the top of test cricket over a 5 year tenure before quitting due to differences with what most people agree is a fairly disfunctional board.

Aside from the ridiculous homework tour to India he won 10 of 15 tests while he was in charge of Australia too.

I get the distinct impression that he is simply unwilling to put being liked ahead of being successful or effective. It’s pretty clear the bloke knows a bit about coaching the sport.
Personally wouldn't give him credit for getting a side with Ntini, Smith, De Villiers, Kallis, Amla etc. to the top.

At the risk of sounding full Warnie on Buchanan, I do think the Coach is there to facilitate a side going to the top, they aren't going to create something from nothing, as such there is only really competent and incompetent coaches rather than degrees of quality. It's like CGI, if it's not noticeable it's working at its best. Either they facilitate the team to the best of its ability, or they fail to manage factionalism in the dressing room, or alienate the captain, or generally cause resentment and bitterness within the side, and get forced out by the board like Arthur has done twice. Excited to see if he can go three for three.

He probably would like to give off the impression he is willing to be disliked to ensure success, I think he's unable to not be disliked because he's a toxic bloke.
 
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May 5, 2016
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Personally wouldn't give him credit for getting a side with Ntini, Smith, De Villiers, Kallis, Amla etc. to the top.

At the risk of sounding full Warnie on Buchanan, I do think the Coach is there to facilitate a side going to the top, they aren't going to create something from nothing, as such there is only really competent and incompetent coaches rather than degrees of quality. Either they facilitate the team to the best of its ability, or they fail to manage factionalism in the dressing room, or alienate the captain, or generally cause resentment and bitterness within the side, and get forced out by the board like Arthur has done twice. Excited to see if he can go three for three.

He probably would like to give off the impression he is willing to be disliked to ensure success, I think he's unable to not be disliked because he's a toxic bloke.

I’d have felt the same except they’d boasted equally talented line ups in years previous and chronically underachieved. Smith sat beside him during his resignation and, suspending disbelief for a moment depending on whether you think he was being genuine, spoke relatively glowingly about how much he would be missed.

I think players have a very hard time copping a rocket these days and it makes being a taskmaster coach very difficult.
 
May 5, 2016
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I reckon Arthur's "coaching" s fewer up SA's chance of doing double against Australia in 09. They should've smoked that series.

But anyway. I'm posting here because of Mark Nicolas.

I think Mitchell Johnson and Phil Hughes had more to do with it.
S,caked 96 at 7-290 in the first innings of the first test and took 4 wickets in each bowling innings, then Hughes came out and smashed a hundred in each innings in the second test
 
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I think Mitchell Johnson and Phil Hughes had more to do with it.
S,caked 96 at 7-290 in the first innings of the first test and took 4 wickets in each bowling innings, then Hughes came out and smashed a hundred in each innings in the second test
Without derailing the thread too far. Steyn was also less effective than he had been in Aus. I've read subsequent articles where Arthur negatively influenced it.
 
May 5, 2016
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Without derailing the thread too far. Steyn was also less effective than he had been in Aus. I've read subsequent articles where Arthur negatively influenced it.

If that’s true, fair play. I just remember them going really hard at Hughes with the short fast stuff and even though he didn’t hook or pull particularly well as a rule, his odd footwork and ability to open up the offside seemed to really throw them
 
Feb 6, 2013
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Without derailing the thread too far. Steyn was also less effective than he had been in Aus. I've read subsequent articles where Arthur negatively influenced it.
Would be absolutely hilarious if true given he ribbed Steyn (gently to be fair) about his record to left handers when he was Aus coach:
https://www.thenational.ae/sport/mickey-arthur-quote-stirs-up-dale-steyn-1.443801
The South Africa coach said the world's No 1 Test bowler was fired up after he was reminded of Australian coach Arthur's assessment of Steyn's apparent weakness bowling against left-handers.

"It's no secret that Dale hasn't bowled well to left-handers," Arthur, a South African who coached his homeland from 2005 to 2010 had said.

"Let me just rephrase that. He's bowled a lot better to right-handers than to left-handers," he added.

Asked if Arthur's comment would motivate Steyn, Kirsten said: "Put it this way, we will use it as good motivation."
 
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Pakistan really missed Abbas in this test. This pitch would've been an absolute beauty for him with plenty of seam movement.

Already can't wait for the 2nd test. The standard and quality of pitches is how the game should be prepared.
 
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Pakistan really missed Abbas in this test. This pitch would've been an absolute beauty for him with plenty of seam movement.

Already can't wait for the 2nd test. The standard and quality of pitches is how the game should be prepared.

Cricket over there is easily the most entertaining in the world.
It helps that they’ve had a consistently good side basically since readmission and the most exciting attack on the planet for a lot of that time admittedly
 
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If you were to rank the SA regular batsmen (so not De Bruyin in other words) I reckon Bavuma would be 6, and Du Plessis either 4 or 5. Make the conditions difficult and they jostle for 1/2/3 with elgar.
 

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Pakistan trying to get the game called off because of the ‘dangerous’ crack even though SA are 5/300.

Pathetic
 

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It troubles me that Supersport still produce a product with an Afrikaans language option. No one there doesn’t speak English - it’s easily the closest they have to an official language (or a compromise language.)

The only people who still want to use Afrikaans are arseholes who equate it with a long-deceased sense of superiority. I guess apartheid still lives, both in the existence of an alternate language option, and in the knowledge that only a tiny fraction of South Africa’s black population can afford pay television.


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app
 
It troubles me that Supersport still produce a product with an Afrikaans language option. No one there doesn’t speak English - it’s easily the closest they have to an official language (or a compromise language.)

The only people who still want to use Afrikaans are arseholes who equate it with a long-deceased sense of superiority. I guess apartheid still lives, both in the existence of an alternate language option, and in the knowledge that only a tiny fraction of South Africa’s black population can afford pay television.


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app
Afrikaans is the first language of a decent proportion of white South Africans. I detest apartheid and what it represented it as much as anyone, but I think you're reading too much into it.
 

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It troubles me that Supersport still produce a product with an Afrikaans language option. No one there doesn’t speak English - it’s easily the closest they have to an official language (or a compromise language.)

The only people who still want to use Afrikaans are arseholes who equate it with a long-deceased sense of superiority. I guess apartheid still lives, both in the existence of an alternate language option, and in the knowledge that only a tiny fraction of South Africa’s black population can afford pay television.


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app


Very common language in the western surburbs of Perth.
 
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It troubles me that Supersport still produce a product with an Afrikaans language option. No one there doesn’t speak English - it’s easily the closest they have to an official language (or a compromise language.)

The only people who still want to use Afrikaans are arseholes who equate it with a long-deceased sense of superiority. I guess apartheid still lives, both in the existence of an alternate language option, and in the knowledge that only a tiny fraction of South Africa’s black population can afford pay television.

Afrikaans is the first language of a decent proportion of white South Africans. I detest apartheid and what it represented it as much as anyone, but I think you're reading too much into it.

Afrikaans is also the language of like 3/4 of the Coloured population too. It's not solely a White thing.

That being said, I do think a lot of the world mistakenly think the Black population in South Africa is similar in number to (for example) Native Americans or Australian Aborigines (true minorities at present, despite being the Indigenous peoples of tgeir land), and fails to realise that 80% of South Africa's 58 million population are Black, and a further 12% are either Coloured or Asian. By comparison, Whites are the significant minority in population in South Africa.
 
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