In our current edition, in a feature story we’ve titled “Alastair The Great”, we illustrate just how different Australian cricket captain Michael Clarke and England leader Alastair Cook’s theoretical and practical approaches to the game really are. Today’s developments, which featured the announcement of Mickey Arthur’s departure as head coach of the Australian cricket team, highlight too, the gulf in stability between the cricketing nations just a fortnight out from the opening delivery of the 2013 Ashes series (there’ll be another one contested on our shores in our summer months).

In these early hours following Arthur’s termination as mentor (and Clarke's decision to resign as a national selector), Arthur's departure has us a bit perplexed. After all, his results since taking the top job have been okay. Really, it’s only been our tour of India and the recent Champions Trophy assault which have gone pear-shaped under Arthur’s tenure, and since when has Australia ever succeeded in India? Point being, if Arthur was put to the sword on performance, his overall track record is better than the team’s recent form suggests. We did come within inches of beating the world-champion Proteas in our series against them last summer, before sweeping Sri Lanka 3-0 in the next round of Tests, and then the Windies 5-0 in the end-of-summer ODIs.

On the other hand, if Arthur has been sacked for disciplinary breakdowns within the team, one has to ask: was he not dealing with MEN, who really ought to be charged with the responsibility of their own actions? Was it really Mickey’s role to tell his players when to go to bed and when to have their last schooner?

It certainly seems an interesting inversion of the traditional coaching role in sport. Coaches normally get sacked for failing to deliver results, not life lessons.

Best of luck, Darren Lehmann.