Australian coach Mickey Arthur sacked

In stunning news today, Australian coach Mickey Arthur has been sacked from his job effective immediately. There are also reports that Darren Lehmann will be the man to take-over, which helps as he has been in charge of Australia A's tour happening at the same time. Captain Michael Clarke is also believed to have lost his selection duties as part of a hierarchy overhaul.

There is no doubt that there has been some fractures inside the Australian team as of late, but I think the major shock arising from this announcement is the timing of it. The fact is the Ashes are due to begin in just over two weeks. For a coach to be sacked after months of planning for this series is certainly significant, and perhaps just how much standards have slipped in the Australian dressing-room over the last few months.

Mickey Arthur's contract was to run until the end of the 2015 World Cup. His tenure has produced reasonable results with 10 test wins and three draws from 19 matches. However the real problems have occurred in the past four months with a 4-0 drubbing from India, homework-gate, the Shane Watson saga, David Warner's misdemeanours, and more recently a group exit from the Champions Trophy.

I think that Cricket Australia feel that Mickey Arthur has lost control of the players and the current situation cannot get any worse. If Darren Lehmann does get the job, I think he will do a good job. That is definitely the general sense around the Australian media and ex-cricketers fraternity today. He has "old-school values" which may help straighten out the Australian team.

There is a press conference scheduled within the hour where Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland is due to appear, which will hopefully result in some clarity on what is another drama-packed day in Australian cricket in the lead-up to the Ashes.
 
Update

After a trio of press conferences, the Australian coaching baton has been passed over from Mickey Arthur to Darren Lehmann. The former Australian cricketer is contracted until the end of the 2015 Cricket World Cup (the original end of Mickey Arthur's contract). In the first press conference, CEO James Sutherland and Team Performance Manager Pat Howard discussed the reasons for standing down Arthur's contract. Essentially Sutherland has said that performance has been substandard over the past few months which has led to this decision being made. If I were one of the journalists in the room, I would have asked him why is then if performance has been poor, then the man in charge of team performance is not getting sacked, instead of the coach.

Next up was Mickey Arthur who was very dignified in his press conference, stating that he still believes that the right group of players is in the Australian team for success. Although I did lose him a bit when he said that Australia were "20 minutes away from something special" in the Champions Trophy. Perhaps a little bit delusional there Mickey. After this, Michael Clarke and new coach Darren Lehmann joined the circus in what was a more light-hearted media appearance. Clarke continued to emphasize how it is a privilege to be an Australian cricketer and their recent performances have let Australian fans down. Lehmann displayed his trademark grin when answering questions and was honest in his statements that only winning will keep him safe in the job. One of the lighter moments was when Clarke asked whether Michael Vaughan's twitter account was hacked after hearing of Vaughan's comment about the new coach galvanising the aussies. 

The past few months has been one of the most chaotic periods in Australian cricket history for all the wrong reasons. Hopefully the Ashes Series starting in a little over two weeks can be the start of a transformation of Australian cricket. Otherwise there could be a few more depressing years for Australian fans on the horizon with more Ashes series' in 2013/14, and 2015, as well as a test tour of South Africa, and a home Cricket World Cup.