LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Tuesday confirmed it has been in talks with former Pakistan head coach Mickey Arthur for a two-year long contract up until the ICC Champions Trophy 2025.

According to the PCB, owing to Arthur’s long-term contract with English county side Derbyshire, the cricket governing body requested the former head coach to act as a consultant to the PCB on a time-sharing basis with Derbyshire, which, however, “proving difficult” to both sides.

“The Pakistan Cricket Board today confirmed it has been in talks with former national team head coach Mickey Arthur with a view to appointing him as the head coach to guide the side through to the ACC Asia Cup, ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023, ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 and the ICC Champions Trophy 2025,” shared PCB in a statement.

“However, owing to his long-term contract with Derbyshire, we have also discussed a proposal to act as a consultant to the PCB on a time-sharing basis with Derbyshire. Unfortunately, however, this option is proving difficult to materialise for various reasons on both sides,” PCB added.

Consequently, the cricket board will now continue its search for the “right person” to fit the slot, while also sharing that some prominent names are also under consideration.

“PCB will continue its search for the right person to fit the slot of the national team head coach and some top names are already under consideration,” shared PCB.

It is pertinent to mention that Arthur coached the national men’s side between 2016 and 2019. During his tenure, Pakistan won their last major ICC event – Champions Trophy 2017 – and also rose to the top spot in the T20I rankings.

The South African coach was then removed from the position following Pakistan’s fifth-place finish in the Cricket World Cup 2019.

READ: Lisowski stuns Higgins to seize quarter-final spot in Masters