Mickey Arthur, the former head coach of South Africa and Pakistan, has been appointed to England's new County Insight Group as part of efforts to repair relations between the national team and domestic cricket following last winter's Ashes defeat.
The internal Ashes review, which retained Rob Key and Brendon McCullum as director of cricket and men's head coach respectively, recommended improved dialogue with the county game, particularly regarding selection. Previously, there was a perception that England disregarded the views of county coaches, leading to a disconnect. Paul Farbrace, head coach at Sussex, encapsulated the sentiment by saying, "There has almost been a feeling in county cricket that: 'We're not bothered whether England are doing well or not,' and that saddens me."
To address this, Key has appointed four county head coaches—Arthur, Richard Dawson, Alan Richardson, and Anthony McGrath—to a panel that will meet with the England hierarchy three or four times per season. Their role is to provide feedback and background on players identified by the scouting network. Speaking at the Ashes review in March, Key stated, "I never wanted to be feeling like England was meddling with the county game. And, actually, that was a mistake. There's a way that we can work together better. We want feedback coming in about the character of players, what they're like under pressure. So I hope [the insight group] is going to enhance what we do from a selection point of view and also feel like there's a connection to the county game."
McCullum has already spoken to county head coaches via Zoom at the start of the season but is not part of the panel. Instead, the panel includes Key, performance director Ed Barney, David Court (head of player ID), and a national selector currently being recruited. Arthur, currently at Derbyshire, is the most high-profile appointment, bringing experience from international roles with South Africa, Pakistan, and Australia. Dawson, head coach at Glamorgan, has held roles in the international pathway, including the Lions, and serves as an England scout. Richardson (Worcestershire) and McGrath (Yorkshire) are highly regarded and both had short-term assistant England coach roles during the Covid-19 pandemic.
These four county representatives will inform the selection process but not make selections. The new national selector will be part of a separate panel including the relevant men's captain (currently Ben Stokes and Harry Brook), plus Key, Barney, Court, McCullum, and Andrew Flintoff (Lions head coach). The selector role has been vacant since Luke Wright stepped down in March; the application deadline closed on 17 April. It remains unclear if the role will be filled before the Test series against New Zealand starting on 4 June.
Another issue identified after the 4-1 Ashes defeat was a lack of cricket knowledge at board level. To address this, Ed Smith, national selector from 2018 to 2021, will join the England and Wales Cricket Board as a non-executive director in October after completing his one-year term as MCC president.
