Mickey Arthur and Justin Langer rekindled their friendship over breakfast at Perth on Wednesday ahead of their respective teams’ clash in the UAE later this October.
Pakistan head coach Arthur and his Australia counterpart Langer go a long way back with the two working together during the former’s spell in charge of the Australian team in 2012.
Now the two will be in opposing dugouts when Australia take on Pakistan in a two-Test series in the UAE in October. The two Tests against Pakistan will be Langer’s first red-ball assignment as Australia coach ever since he took over after Darren Lehmann’s resignation.
The ball-tampering episode during Australia’s tour of South Africa has left the Baggy Green without the services of Steve Smith and David Warner who were both handed a one-year ban from international and domestic cricket by Cricket Australia.
The Aussies will also have to make do without the services of fast-bowling duo Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood who have both been ruled out of the series after failing to recover from their injuries.
Langer assisted Arthur during his tenure as Australia coach in 2012.
Despite the loss of key personnel, Arthur is not taking Australia lightly.
“Australia are never weak. I have been reading all that stuff but no Australian squad is weak,” he was quoted as saying by The Age on Wednesday.
The Pakistan head coach knows that spin will play a key role in the series with none of the matches being day-night affairs.
“That’s not going to be any secret – hopefully we get it to turn,” Arthur said.
On Tuesday, Pakistan received a huge setback in their search of a new fielding coach with South Australia’s Darren Berry pulling out of discussions with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) due to professional and personal reasons.
Arthur hopes to have a new man in place soon.
“I am looking at several people at the moment. I was really disappointed to have missed out on Darren because he would have been great,” he said.
The final schedule of Australia’s tour of the UAE is yet to be released by the PCB. Apart from the two Tests, the two sides are also slated to play five ODIs and a one-off T20.
