Arthur mum on SA coaching job

Eastern Cape Warriors coach Mickey Arthur was not prepared to discuss a weekend newspaper report that he is set to depose Ray Jennings as the coach of the Proteas cricket team.

Speaking from his home in East London, Arthur would neither confirm nor deny the report.

"The coach's name is due to be released at a press conference in Johannesburg on Thursday," was his only response.

It is a well-known secret that Arthur was one of the three candidates on a shortlist of coaches to take over from Jennings, the others being Vincent Barnes, who was Jennings' assistant coach on the West Indies tour just completed, and an unknown overseas coach, thought to be either Rodney Marsh or his namesake, Geoff, both former Australian Test cricketers.

Speculation was also rife that former Australian captain Steve Waugh was interested in the job.

After a lengthy career as a top-order batsman for Free State and Griquas, Arthur was appointed coach of South Africa A and coached Griquas during the 2003/4 season, before taking over as the initial Eastern Cape franchise coach in April 2004 when the Mark Boucher-led franchise reached the final of the Pro20 series first time up.

He and Barnes also teamed up to coach the successful South Africa A team for a short period last summer while he had previously had a stint as coach of the national academy.

Arthur is a man with real "people's skills" and is known as a coach who gets the best out of his players.

According to him, the 2004-05 season - despite reaching the final of the Pro20 series again - had been "challenging" for the Warriors with many setbacks caused by injuries to key bowlers and national call-ups.

Despite these problems, Arthur had by season's end welded the two sections of the franchise - Border and Eastern Province - into a powerful squad, capable of beating any other team in the country.

Should Jennings be ousted, some cricket followers may feel that this is unfair on the former wicketkeeper, who has just led South Africa to series wins against the West Indies in both the Test and one-day series.

However, it must be pointed out that his tenure of coach was set to end after the Windies tour.

Whoever is appointed on Thursday will start off next summer with a tough series against New Zealand and then world champions Australia at home and away.

He would have the added responsibility of coaching the Proteas back in the Caribbean for the 2007 World Cup. - Sapa