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Death of King ArthurWhen South Africa returned from the West Indian Islands after succumbing meekly to Australia in the semifinal of the 2007 Cricket World Cup, shouts of "Mickey Mouse" greeted the team management upon its arrival at OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg. The angry fans were referring to Mickey Arthur, the Proteas' coach, of course. Then, for others he became King Arthur, and now the king is dead – long live the king!
Two brief years after the humiliation in the West Indies, and a historic win over Australia in Oz for the first time since hostilities between these two countries began, Arthur went from nix to six. Now it seems his fortunes have somersaulted again!
According to "Die Burger", "Beeld" and Radio 702, Arthur has decided to resign as coach, forced to fall into his own sword because his relationship with captain Graeme Smith has soured to the degree that a strong unit at the top is no longer possible.
During the Arthur era, South Africa beat Australia three times in One-Day International series, triumphed against England in England for the first time since 1965, and also prevailed in a Test series in Australia.
Amazingly, after scaling the summit of world cricket at the start of 2009, the team's implosion in the Twenty20 World Cup and the International Cricket Council’s Champions Trophy in South Africa has contributed to Arthur's demise.
The team also flattered to deceive in the home series against England.
It is not an uncommon feature of the relationship between coach and player that players decide to move on after five years.
Andre Agassi, a former number-one tennis player in the world, once said that usually the relationship between a tennis player and a coach lasts for about five years, but then becomes stale.
According to sources close to the South African team, there was no face-off or major blow-up between Smith and Arthur.
What Arthur arguably failed to do, was to take the team to the next level. At international level, you need to improve that additional 2% annually.
The failure by South Africa to lift the silverware at World Cup tournaments arguably is not solely Arthur’s mistake.
The burden of expectations after historical failures in World Cups has become overbearing for the current coaches.
But let us look back to 1996 and 1999, when Bob Woolmer’s troops were in a favourable position to lift the trophy at the World Cup, but lost to the West Indies in 1996 and drew with Australia at the 1999 event when they were in a favourable position to win.
Furthermore, the South African approach of playing in too programmed a manner and being too dogmatic in the selection of batting line-ups for ODIs at World Cups, has contributed to their struggles in these tournaments.
The fear of failure and the team's self-talk in crucial encounters have been highlighted by Dr Henning Gericke, a former World Cup medal-winning psychological coach, as a reason for the Proteas' inability to take home the silverware.
Arthur’s legacy is that, with Smith, he forged a magnificent Test team capable of beating all-comers on all surfaces and in all conditions.
Preliminary reports have linked Corrie van Zyl, chief executive officer of the University of Pretoria's High Performance Centre and former coach of the Eagles, to the task of interim coach.
Van Zyl is a superb coach, but without the buy-in and the wholehearted support of the senior players, including Smith, he will not be prepared to come on board.
He is an intense, highly strung individual with an excellent work ethic. But he does not suffer fools gladly and he is not too keen to travel. If he does not get his way, he will take the highway back to his home in Bloemfontein.
The guess is that Van Zyl would be prepared only to go to India for the four weeks, and then return to his major passion, and that is to prepare young South African A players for the rigours of international cricket.
South Africans will probably have to look further north – Gary Kirsten (current coach of India) – or south (Kepler Wessels, former coach of Northamptonshire and former captain of South Africa); or Darren Lehman, former Australian player, as the next long-term appointment.
History will point to the fact that Arthur won 22 out of 45 Tests, which puts him in favourable territory with Woolmer and Graham Ford as reasonably successful coaches. His win/lose percentage as coach of ODI teams is not as good as that of Woolmer or Ray Jennings, although the latter featured in only 15 ODIs as coach, of which the Proteas won 12.
Yet, for all his shortcomings, Arthur’s name will be linked for ever to one of the most celebrated periods in the history of South African cricket.
