Six years after the ‘homework gate’ affair former Australian head coach Mickey Arthur believes at that point that was what Australian cricket needed.
The former South African cricketer Arthur was in charge of a youthful Australian side during the tour of India in 2012-13 and were down 0-2 against hosts India in the Test series. Of the 40 wickets, spinners had picked up 34 in the series and the Australian team management were at a loss how to overcome this situation and defy the Indian challenge.
It was then that Arthur then coach of the Australian team took an unprecedented step as he gave his homework to come up with unique ideas to tackle the issue. Arthur set his players an assignment asking them to communicate to him some ideas about the best way to improve performance.
While all the players responded four of them Shane Watson, James Pattinson, Mitchell Johnson and Usman Khawaja failed to execute the task and as a result they were axed from the next Test at Mohali.
This unprecedented move triggered a controversy and saw the term “Homework gate” entering the cricketing lexicon and accusations levelled at Arthur that he didn’t understand Australia’s unique culture.
Following the Indian tour Arthur lost his job.
Recalling the incident six years later Arthur said, “Australian cricket at that time needed just to be pulled together a little bit. I took the blame for it. The homework gate has a stigma that I don't like very much. It certainly wasn't that. I am not a guy who sets homework.
“What it was that they needed to be was professional cricketers. The sacrifice and discipline that go with being professional cricketers. Those are things that I don't compromise on. You can never compromise on values and standards. I was disappointed that the standards at that time were not where they needed to be. “If I sit back and think about it, it was far too drastic. But I felt it needed to be done. If you ask me whether I will do it again, I wouldn't do it exactly that way. I have seen Shane (Watson) around the league and we have moved on.”
From Australia Arthur moved to Pakistan where he had a good three-year stint helping them to become winners of the ICC Champions Trophy and number one in the T20 International rankings. He lost his job when Pakistan failed to qualify for the quarterfinals of the 2019 Cricket World Cup in England.
Today Arthur is the head coach of the Sri Lanka team on a two-year contract and will accompany them for the two-Test ICC World Test Championship series.
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