Mickey Arthur has ruled out the prospect of becoming England’s next Test cricket coach after landing a mentoring role with Super Rugby franchise the Western Force.
England are on the lookout for a new coach following the axing of Andy Flower, who oversaw the Test team’s embarrassing 5-0 Ashes defeat this summer.
Arthur, who was replaced by Darren Lehmann as Australia’s coach last year, showed a slight interest in the England job earlier this month.
But the affable South African has decided against throwing his hat in the ring, saying he’s settled in Perth and loving his various work commitments.
Arthur runs his own cricket academy, coaches at Christ Church Grammar School, and does some part-time media work.
When asked whether he was interested in the England job, Arthur replied:
“That won’t be me.
“I’m very happy with the mix I’ve got in my life at the moment.
“This (Force role) is a real good challenge, something I want to put my heart and soul in.”
Arthur will head up the Force’s expanded development program, which will identify and nurture the best talent from Australia and abroad.
The initial goal of the program will be to identify the best young local talent and include them under the Force umbrella, where Arthur will play a mentoring role to help fast-track their development.
The ‘Future Force’ program will also identify young talent from interstate and abroad, and relocate them to Perth.
Players between the ages of 17-19 will be the primary target.
Arthur is keen to build the Future Force program into one of the best rugby development programs in the world.
The Force expect between 5-10 players will be included in the program during the first 12 months, with 10-15 to participate after that.
Force chief executive Mark Sinderberry expects the program to cost the franchise an extra $500,000 per year once it’s fully operational by 2017.
Arthur, who played rugby in high school and also coached South Africa’s cricket team to No.1 in the Test rankings, won’t be responsible for any of the talent identification or coaching in the Future Force program.
“I’ll leave that to the experts,” Arthur said.
“We want to build a program that’s going to sustain the Force for a very long time.
“We are fielding calls from South Africa, Ireland, England – all over the place. For us it’s about getting in the best quality.”
The Force have never finished higher than seventh since their inception in 2006, but are now allowed to recruit two international marquees and six overseas development players.
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