The firing of Mickey Arthur was hailed on Tuesday as the wakeup call Australia so badly needed to fight for the Ashes against England. Darren Lehmann was appointed the new coach of the Australia cricket team on Monday, ahead of the first Test in Nottingham on 10 July following a series of embarrassing on and off-field incidents.
‘This should bring a sharp focus to the players who enter this series as rank outsiders,’ said The Daily Telegraph’s chief cricket writer Malcolm Conn.
‘The sacking of Mickey Arthur as coach is the wakeup call Australia desperately need a fortnight from the Ashes,’ he added.
Sydney Morning Herald said the South African, Australia’s first foreign coach, had ‘paid a heavy price for Australia’s recent inept performances’, noting they had not won a game in more than four months. The Australian treated Lehmann’s appointment as ‘a good decision’, but added ‘not even England ever sacked its coach two weeks before an Ashes series’.