Arthur confident of settling matters amicably with CA despite 4 mln-dollar lawsuit

Sacked Australian coach Mickey Arthur is hoping that he can reach a settlement with Cricket Australia (CA) despite suing the board for either four million dollars or his job back.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the South African, who was axed last month on the eve of the Ashes series in England and replaced by Darren Lehmann, has failed to resolve his dispute with CA during a day of conciliation talks on Wednesday.

Indicating that he was hoping for a settlement rather than having to take CA to court, Arthur said that although none of the parties came to an outcome on Wednesday, he is confident that there was enough goodwill in the room for them to continue talks next week.

Arthur further reiterated his statement that he wants a fair and reasonable outcome, which he is hopeful of achieving next week.

The report further said that the former coach had said that he had no choice but to take legal action against CA as he had received nothing in writing from CA since his dismissal and no payment at all despite trying several times to make direct contact at a senior level.

The report also said that Arthur had previously claimed his nationality played a part in his dismissal and also noted a media conference comment by CA chief executive James Sutherland that, to some extent, he was a scapegoat for the team's off-field discipline issues.

Damaging details of Arthur's case revealing alleged division in the Australian team were leaked to the media last week as the team was preparing for the second Ashes Test at Lord's, although Arthur insisted that the leak had not come from his side, the report added.