West Indies Cricket Fans

Arthur influence rubs off on Taylor

England Lions batsman has been honing his game in Perth with former Australia coach Mickey Arthur.

Few English cricketers can claim to have enjoyed a productive time in Australia this winter, but batsman James Taylor is one of them having spent the last couple of months working with an unlikely ally in Perth

The Nottinghamshire player, left out of the Ashes squad when Gary Ballance was favoured, decided to sharpen his skills playing Grade cricket for Claremont-Nedlands where a chance meeting with former Australia coach Mickey Arthur led to a series of one-on-one sessions.

Arthur, who has also led his native South Africa, was unceremoniously dumped by Cricket Australia and replaced by Darren Lehmann last summer but remains a highly-respected coach and is based in Perth.

With time on his hands, Arthur was happy to take Taylor under his wing and the 24-year-old is now setting his sights on a return to the senior England set-up, having played two Tests against South Africa in 2012 before falling down the pecking order.

The landscape is different now, with vacancies possible following the 5-0 Ashes whitewash, and Taylor hopes to press his claims on tour with England Lions in Sri Lanka next month.

"I'm in a great space, I've had a great winter so far in Australia working on my game and working closely with Mickey Arthur, who was great for me," said Taylor.

"He's obviously someone who has been around the best players in the world, got South Africa to number one in the world, so dealing with him on a day-to-day basis was great for me. I've had a great winter so far and I'm definitely inspired to get back into that England team. My game's in a great spot."

On encountering Arthur, Taylor said: "It definitely wasn't planned. He lives in Perth, near where I was living and I had a mate who knew him.

"It came about in a funny way but it was great and very worthwhile. To be around a world-class coach, somebody who has worked with the best players and have him comment on my game was very positive.

"It was one to one, once or twice a week, and he came to watch every game I played in.

"He saw how I practised and then he saw me on a match day, so it was great."

Taylor has long been touted as the coming man on the England scene but has endured a bumpier road to the top than many had anticipated.

He made 48 runs in three Test innings against the much-vaunted Proteas attack, including a gritty 34 on debut in a century stand with Kevin Pietersen.

But with Pietersen's 'text-gate' row with Andrew Strauss in the middle of blowing up, Taylor's efforts slipped well down the agenda and he has not been seen again at that level since the subsequent Lord's Test.

He was named on standby when Pietersen was an injury doubt in last summer's Ashes but then found himself left out of the touring party for the return series.

He remains unfazed by his experiences and is focused on forcing himself into the reckoning in what could be a year of new beginnings for the national side.

Colin Benjamin wrote:

mikesiva wrote:Forward? This looks like "backward" to me...back to the colonial era.

Frank Worrell's legacy is being rolled back....

Come on now, stop with the colonial era crap - its all about getting the best coach to help particularly with the test team, the colour of his skin isn't important. This is a ridiculous assertion to make.

Sure west indian options like Jimmy Adams, Lochheart Sebastian, Roger Harper, Phil Simmons could be useful - but expect for Harper (who is tied up with Amazon warriors) windies don't have a caribbean bred coach with Arthur's credentials. So if indeed we get him, it would be a major coup.

Major Caribbean football teams & clubs (Trinidad, Jamaica, Central FC etc etc) has been hiring foreign white coaches for years now, cut out the race card man...

mapoui2 wrote:fuming? to say the least

if they bring arthur in I am really done this time. there is no way in hell I can accept Mickey Arthur as west indian coach!

Really, you mean on some fascist type ist, like if Owens won gold in 36 and you played the part of hitler by walking out in protest.

Well I never, who would have thunk it.

I bet T&T going as a separate entity looks a whole lot more appetising to you now eh, oh well I did try and warn you about self determination and " abstract " stuff like that, didn't I.

Nevermind, if you're still " fuming " after you've read this simply inhale thru your nose, with your mouth closed.........and suck it up.

mikesiva wrote:I still don't see why we have to appoint a white Englishman as head of our cricket, and a white South African as our coach...these guys don't understand our culture, and in the long run, don't have a vested interest in it. When Clive Lloyd and Viv Richards led sides that dominated world cricket, they were not led by white coaches. When Usain Bolt and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce dominated world athletics last year, they were coached by black Jamaican coaches.

England's current coach is English, South Africa's current coach is South African...I don't see West Indians getting the top jobs there. The problem I have is that no West Indian was even given a chance to get the top job by Pybus...no attempt to interview Greenidge (experience coaching Bangladesh), Jimmy Adams (Kent) or Phil Simmons (Ireland). The whole interview process has not been transparent...if this were a regular job, it would have to have been advertised first, and a rigorous fair interview selection process taken, to prove that it's not a case of jobs being handed out to friends. This seems to be a clear case of "friend-ism", from friendships formed when Pybus worked in South Africa. No interview process whatsoever....

Remember the last two foreigners we had as coaches? John Dyson and Bennett King? They were both unmitigated disasters....

Okay, Gibson hasn't exactly been the messiah himself...let's look at where he left us:

Test ranking - eighth

ODI ranking - eighth

T20 ranking - sixth

Let's see where Arthur leaves us, and let's see if there's a significant improvement, when he does leave us....

Arthur's lucky his opening series is a home one against Bangladesh. Cue Afro gushing about Arthur's brilliance when we beat this lowly side!

And then we travel to India and South Africa, and mark my words, the results will be a matter of deja vu when 2015 rolls in....

Usain is a alien...he would be winning even if he didn't have a " coach " ....its called GENETICS

GILs talks about Jamaica is hardly different from the way the Nazi's felt and talked about Germany..superior and separatist...better than everyone else

fuming? to say the least

if they bring arthur in I am really done this time. there is no way in hell I can accept Mickey Arthur as west indian coach!

no separation. its on dat principle I reject forrin coach.....no separation yuh hear! none...period. no circumstances warrant separation

bwoy top yuh noise.yuh ent tired get blows