For a coach who has just watched two of the genuine legends of the game call time on their respective Test careers - from his team, no less - Mickey Arthur is in surprisingly high spirits.
Sunday afternoon marked the end of another era in Australian cricket when Michael Hussey bowed out of the international arena on top as his side beat Sri Lanka in under four days at the SCG to record a 3-0 series sweep.
Hussey was in the middle as the home side reached its target of 141 with five wickets to spare, although Mitchell Johnson 'spoiled' the fairytale by hitting the winning run himself.
The departure of the 37-year-old Hussey, combined with the retirement earlier this summer of former skipper Ricky Ponting, leaves a dearth of Test experience in the Australian order, but Arthur is not particularly fazed.
"I think we are [finding the future]," he told Grandstand after the close of play.
"You lose Ricky, you lose Mike, you lose such a massive amount of experience.
"We've got to coax and coach the young boys to take up that mantle.
"Hopefully we find some talent, hopefully the younger boys stand up. I thought they stood up this game and I'm excited for the future."
Two one-day international series against Sri Lanka and West Indies loom in the next five weeks as well as Twenty20 internationals against both nations (two against Sri Lanka, one against West Indies).
Arthur expects more of the aforementioned "younger boys" to stake their claims in the limited-overs arenas for a chance to wear the Baggy Green in India and England this year.
"I think we have, there's a massive opportunity," he said.
"My message for the one-day squad when we get together on Tuesday is there's just a massive amount of opportunities for you.
"It's very exciting. Australian cricket's very exciting at the moment.
"Who's going to stand up? Because if you stand up there might be some places available for you.
"To be a young player in Australia now is a really exciting time."
One of those youngsters is rookie paceman Jackson Bird, who bagged match figures of 7 for 117 in just his second Test and was named man-of-the-match in Sydney.
He was not selected in the squad for the first two one-day internationals against Sri Lanka but, given Cricket Australia's new resting policy, he may well feature in the rest of the five-match series.
"It's been a good start so far," said Bird, who has 11 wickets at 16.18 from his two Tests.
"There's a lot of hard work to do in the next couple of months.
"If selected there's a couple of tough tours coming up and there's a lot of Test cricket.
"So I've just got to concentrate on what I can in the next couple of weeks and see what happens from there."
Tags: cricket, sport, sydney-2000, australia First posted January 07, 2013 09:09:45
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