After three and a half years, former Australian head coach Mickey Arthur finally conceded he made a mistake, saying “the punishment may not have fitted the crime” while overreacting on the sacking of four Australian cricketers in the ‘Homeworkgate’ saga during Australia’s 2013 series in India.
“Well. Probably not suspended four guys. There needed to be a significant stand made. Discipline wasn’t where it should be. We wanted to try and create an environment of excellence and we working hard to (do that) and then something like that happens, so what do you do?,” the current Pakistan coach Mickey Arthur was quoted as saying by news.com.au.
The quartet which had+ the then vice-captain and all-rounder Shane Watson, Usman Khawaja, Mitchell Johnson and James Pattinson had failed in completing the written feedback which their former coach Arthur had assigned to them on how to improve the things – to make a strong comeback in the third Test in Mohali after a comprehensive loss in the second Test against India.
Given this, all four cricketers were handed one-Test match ban, which was scheduled in Mohali in 2013. Australia was whitewashed by India 4-0.
“But maybe the punishment didn’t fit the crime I guess and maybe that’s something we’d certainly look at. Would I have handled it differently? I guess I might have,” Arthur said.
Soon after the India’s disastrous tour in 2013, current Australian coach Darren Lehmann replaced Arthur, who was eventually sacked by Cricket Australia ahead of the 2013 Australia-England Ashes series.
“Do you just let it pass? Because if you (do) then the guys that have worked extremely hard at doing what they did will look at it and say, ‘well, why did we do it?’ You have to keep some integrity in the system,” Arthur added.
The 48-year-old South African reflected that a “significant stand” hds to be made and reiterated he could have handled the situation in a better way and his sole intention was to restore discipline in the team.
Arthur, during his coaching stint with Australia, had a close relationship with Michael Clarke before it took an ugly turn as documents leaked from Arthur’s legal proceedings included the allegations where Clarke described Watson’s influence on the team as a “cancer”.
“I reached out to Michael because I felt an obligation to Michael and that was it. And I left it at that Pup and I had a really good relationship. Our relationship was really solid. Obviously around the time when I went through the legal issue there was that stuff that came out which soured our relationship just a little bit, but we’ve spoken through that,” Arthur concluded.
Following Arthur’s tenure, he was also criticized by former Australian players for his unacceptable remarks on Australia’s cricket culture.