the times | Wednesday February 16 2022 57
Sport
corrupted
over backwards not to offend
autocratic states, aware of the money
they provide to the IOC, which he
yearns to lead. Above all, we have to
realise how far the rot has travelled,
with the entire Olympic movement
now hopelessly contaminated.
We should acknowledge something
else too. Hundreds of brilliant, clean,
honest athletes have given it their all
at these Games, the culmination of a
lifetime of hard work and sacrifice.
Isn’t it heart-rending that their
moment in the spotlight has been
overshadowed by the Machiavellian
evasions of the suited charlatans who
administer this once impressive event?
But perhaps we should finish with
Valieva, only 15, who, despite an early
stumble, completed an impressive
opening routine before dissolving into
tears. If she finishes in the top three
tomorrow, the medal ceremony will
be abandoned. If she fails to finish in
the top three, the world will wonder
at how she was allowed to compete.
Either way, it is a catch-22 that
showcases the incompetence and
corruption underpinning this
profoundly tarnished institution.
BOBSLEIGH PAIR FLIP AT 83MPH
The British two-man bobsleigh team of Brad Hall
and Nick Gleeson, right, crashed and flipped over
at 83mph during their penultimate run in
Yanqing. They recovered to complete their final
run, finishing 11th overall. Meanwhile, Bruce
Mouat’s male curlers showed why they are
Britain’s best hope of a medal, reaching
tomorrow’s semi-finals with a superb
7-6 win over Sweden, the world champions.‘Stop players going
to IPL to improve
England’s Test side’
Valieva bursts into tears at the end of
her short programme, inset, after a
clumsy landing — but despite that she
is leading the women’s figure skatingrival could match
Sport
ROMAN PILIPEY/EPAA
fter 12 years of the bright
lights of international
cricket, Mickey Arthur has
decided that the relative
quiet of the East Midlands
is where home is going to be for the
next few years.
It is a significant coup for
Derbyshire to have enticed a head
coach with the experience and calibre
of Arthur. The challenges for a small
county with a small squad of only 19
players are significant. They have not
won a trophy since 2012, when they
topped Division Two of the County
Championship, and before that it was
1993, when they won the Benson &
Hedges Cup. Moreover, they have not
produced an England Test player
since Dominic Cork in 2002.
“The county has underperformed
for a number of years,” Arthur, who
has just arrived in the UK to take his
new role, says. “I’ve told the players
that. I hate losing and I will be talking
about winning and instilling that
every day we’re together as a squad.”
There will be no more coasting and
using the excuse of being a “smaller
county” — Arthur’s belief is that
Derbyshire can sit at the top table.
Arthur, 53, has an impressive
CV and a no-nonsense approach
to management. He coached
South Africa from 2005 to 2010
and was the coach of Australia
from 2010 until his sacking in
June 2013. Then, from 2016 to
2019, he coached Pakistan
and was Sri Lanka’s head
coach from December
2019, up until his
resignation last year.
All of those have
been challenging posts
and Arthur is no
stranger to difficult
decisions. He has had to
manage big characters,
deal with difficult
administrators and make
some unpopular selection
decisions. His views on the
axing of Stuart Broad and
James Anderson fromEngland’s Test squad come with a
tinge of bitter experience.
“I’ve had to do similar with my
international teams [phasing out
senior players],” he says. “This process
with Stuart and Jimmy should have
started a little while ago. I think it’s
drastic to do it now, in one swoop.
“They have decided they want to go
with a young new Test squad. Those
two are unbelievable cricketers but
clearly, they are not going to be
around for ages, so I think England
should have started the phasing-out
process earlier, which probably would
have culminated in going into this
English summer and them departing
with the respect they deserve.”
English cricket is, as always, doing
some soul-searching after another
Ashes defeat and there is to be a
comprehensive review of county
cricket, in consultation with the
counties. It is Arthur’s strong belief,
though, that county cricket is not
to blame for England’s poor Test
performances in the past 18 months.
Participation in the Indian Premier
League is a huge issue for English
cricket, Arthur says. “For so long
county cricket has been a really good
producer of international players. I
don’t think there’s a problem with the
system. If you want the strength early
season, unfortunately you have to
stop players going to the IPL. They
are playing there just before the first
Tests. You need your best players
playing county cricket preparing for
that. But good luck having those
conversations with players.”
Arthur’s most immediate
priority is getting Derbyshire
back to winning ways. He is not
a fan of rest-and-rotation and
believes in always picking your
best team. “Rotation is a
swear word to me,”
he says.
Might Arthur have
been tempted by the
vacant England
head coach role?
“Absolutely
not,” he says.
“I have just come
out of 12 years
of international
cricket and I’m very
comfortable with the
project I’ve got.”Mickey Arthur speaks
to Elizabeth Ammon
about his Derbyshire
plans and the handling
of Broad and Anderson
England women to face
South Africa in June Test
Cricket England’s women will play a
Test match against South Africa this
summer in a multiformat series as
part of plans to include more Test
cricket in the women’s calendar
(Elizabeth Ammon writes).
After the thrilling Ashes Test draw
in Canberra last month, there have
been calls to provide more
opportunities for women to play Test
cricket. Only England and Australia
regularly play Tests and even that is
only once every 18 months as part of
the Ashes. South Africa have not
played a Test for eight years but will
meet England at Taunton in June to
kick off the series, which will also
include three one-day internationals
and three T20s.Sheffield Shield likely to
remain Australian-only
Cricket English players are likely to
remain excluded from playing in
Australia’s Sheffield Shield despite a
recent ECB request to reverse the
policy after this winter’s Ashes
disaster (Elizabeth Ammon writes).
Tom Harrison, the under-fire chief
executive of the ECB, wrote to his
counterparts at Cricket Australia after
the Ashes defeat, asking for the state
teams to select young English players
to give them experience of Australian
conditions. However, sources close to
Cricket Australia have told The Times
that it remains a remote possibility
that any of the six first-class state
teams would select an overseas player
and that its priority remains giving all
the playing slots to Australian players.Arthur has also coached
South Africa, Australia,
Pakistan and Sri LankaALEX PANTLING/GETTY IMAGES