Former SA coach calls Gibbs a 'loner'

Melbourne: Strongly reacting to Herschelle Gibbs' claims that he had no influence in the team, former South African coach Mickey Arthur has described the out-of-favour opener as "somewhat of a loner".

"Hersch was a little bit of a loner. He sort of hung by himself. He never really mixed too freely with the rest of the group," said Arthur.

"He certainly didn't mix with Graeme at all and I guess there was a little barrier between the two there," Arthur was quoted as saying by AAP.

\"Hersch was a little bit of a loner. He sort of hung by himself,\" said former SA coach Mickey Arthur.

The flamboyant opener, in his autobiography 'To the Point', criticised the power setup under Arthur.

Gibbs said that current captain Graeme Smith was afforded too much power during Arthur's reign from 2005-2010.

Arthur, however, hit back at Gibbs saying the 36-year-old would have had little idea what was going on around him.

"For the last three years of my time, Herschelle was in and out of the side. He wasn't there for most of the time," said Arthur, who is now coach of Western Australia.

"I hope he hasn't burnt too many bridges."

"He wouldn't know the conversations that Graeme and I had in private. He had no idea on the handle of relationships between the management and the players because he wasn't privy to any of that.

"Hersch was trying to salvage a career towards the back end, so he was trying anything."

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