Arthur: I can help Australia
Mickey Arthur has said that, if approached by Australia, he will be more than happy to offer national coach Tim Nielsen and company advice, but for now his sole focus is on getting his stint with Western Australia off to a fruitful start.
Former South Africa coach Arthur has been handed a three-year deal to take charge of Warriors.
The 41-year old, who enjoyed a successful five-year tenure with the Proteas, succeeds Tom Moody who announced in February that he would not seek re-appointment to the role.
"I am in the Australian structure right now and any help I can give to [Australian coach] Tim [Nielsen] and the Australian team I certainly will," Arthur told the Herald.
"I would like to say that Tim and I were good friends. We discuss a lot of things, and we spoke of our roles which were exactly the same. The guys will just have to ask, but right now my immediate focus is on the Warriors squad and getting it competitive and getting that edge back."
Arthur takes over the reins of a struggling Warriors set-up, which has made just one domestic final across the past 36 months.
"It is a team that has under-performed a little bit of late, and we will have to get in and try and fix that. I have got a three-year plan and I will work fairly rigidly with that plan," added Arthur.
Western Australian captain Marcus North welcomed the arrival of Arthur, who beat the likes of Geoff Marsh, Justin Langer and Geoff Marsh to the coveted coaching post.
I'm sure [the players] will be as excited as I am. I think it's fantastic the [Western Australian Cricket Association] has gone out to get a world-class coach to come to Perth to try and turn us around," enthused North.
"He seems to bring a real calmness. It can only be an exciting and encouraging time for WA cricket."
WACA chief executive Graeme Wood said Arthur was selected after a thorough process from a field of outstanding candidates understood to have included Bushrangers assistant coach Simon Helmot.
"Mickey's track record of success at domestic and international level speaks for itself, but his passion and drive to help the Warriors get back to the top of Australian cricket was clearly evident in all of our dealings with him," Wood said.
"Mickey has secured this position from a high quality field of applicants."
Wood said the WACA would be looking to fill the assistant coaching vacancy in the coming weeks
