Tim Boon is a good English coach with unproven international credentials © Getty Images

When Pakistan won the World Cup in 1992, Imran's Tigers had the benefit of coach Intikhab Alam. Seven years later, when Wasim Akram lead Pakistan to another World Cup final, Mushtaq Mohammad, another legspinner, was in charge of fielding practice. Yet it isn't clear what either of those two coaches added? Imran and Wasim were all dominant.

Since then Pakistan tried a low-key international coach (Richard Pybus), a low-key home coach (Mudassar Nazar), a high-profile home coach (Javed Miandad), and a high-profile international coach (Bob Woolmer). On objective measures of success, Woolmer was the most successful helping Pakistan gain high positions in the Test and One-day rankings, although the last year of his charge was a disaster. Even Woolmer's malleable personality found obstacles within the team, a problem that Javed Miandad--who I once imagined would be the ideal coach for Pakistan--nurtured all too easily.

Which brings us back to the debate of the moment. You might make the case that an experienced captain with an experienced team could do without a coach, or tolerate one in the supportive role that Intikhab and Mushtaq played.

But this Pakistan team is full of players with plenty of learning to do. Pakistan's domestic cricket delivers raw talent not the finely-honed final product. Indeed many of the players' techniques require work and it isn't clear that they have the capacity to be self-motivated learners or even appreciate good advice when it looks them in the mouth. Woolmer became increasingly frustrated with the inability of this crop of players to improve through experience and advice.

So not only do Pakistan require a coach--or a team of coaches--but the players need to open up their minds and be willing to learn from others. With fewer big name stars to interfere and block the role of the coach, a situation that both Miandad and Woolmer encountered to some degree, Pakistan have an ideal opportunity to appoint somebody who can nurture the talent available and work in partnership with the captain.

In many ways, with few megastars to rub up the wrong way, the time for Woolmer or Miandad in their differing styles was now. Dav Whatmore, a proven team-builder with vast international coaching experience, could have been a sensible choice if a foreign coach was required. But the early chatter about Aaqib Javed has given way to whispers about Tim Boon, a good English coach with unproven international credentials.

The easy decision is that Pakistan require a coach. The harder one is working out who that should be in a country that has a poor tradition of working constructively with coaches. More importantly still, Ramiz Raja and Shahid Afridi will be proven right if the players are unable or unwilling to learn - and that is the biggest challenge Shoaib Malik and his new coach will now face.

	There was enough spirit and verve on display over this series as a whole to conclude that Shoaib Malik's captaincy has begun successfully © AFP

A clean sweep of this series would have been an unimaginable result--and so it turned out. Sri Lanka are a formidable one-day team even without their premier bowler. This series was a trip too far but today they roused themselves to give Tom Moody a happy send off.

Pakistan made mistakes. Malik made mistakes. There is much work to be done to polish the skills of this young team. But nobody should have expected a perfect performance so early. Each new formation requires some time to settle. New responsibilities bring new roles, and new roles take a little getting used to. If these players are to challenge the world's best they will have to advance their skills quickly.

But there was enough spirit and verve on display over this series as a whole to conclude that Shoaib Malik's captaincy has begun successfully, better than might have been expected. He was probably helped by the absence of Younis Khan and Shoaib Akhtar, which allowed him to rule outside the glare of captains-in-the-wings. Pakistan must build from this pleasant beginning and hold the thought that they defeated the World Cup finalists. The new age already offers much to fascinate.

	Return of the think tank © AFP

Australia, as usual, are the premier exponents of the think-tank approach. Ricky Ponting has grown into a formidable leader but his lieutenants, Messrs Warne, Gilchrist, and Hussey--or anybody else with a bright idea for that matter--will not hesitate to have a word of wisdom with their captain or the bowler. Gilchrist, for example, will often hatch a plan in the middle of an over. Even if it is a chat about the next episode of Neighbours it puts the batsman on edge.

Under Inzamam-ul Haq the Pakistan think-tank had ebbed away. All thinking resided within his tank-like frame. The huddle, an opportunity to impart instructions and urge common purpose, reigned supreme. But I'm refreshed by the return of the think-tank. It shows that Shoaib Malik is willing to debate and listen. He must have the final say, of course, but no individual has a monopoly on the best ideas.

Winning two matches against a jaded and under-strength Sri Lankan team does not make you the best in the world. It does not mean that every move that Captain Malik made was the correct one. It does not mean that Sergeant-Major Afridi will rescue Pakistan in every match with bat or ball--and today there was genuine pressure from Sri Lanka when Afridi bowled his team back into a dominant position.

Yet there is more to team spirit than the embrace of a huddle. There is a degree of sharing of ideas and strategy, as well as some disagreement, that unites players in their quest. It has to be done in the middle of a match not confined to the middle of the captain's brain.

On these counts, Malik's era has begun optimistically. Welcome back Team Pakistan.

A tournament in Abu Dhabi may never rank as one of the most important in international history but this one does matter greatly in the bruised world of Pakistan cricket. There are many reasons why we shouldn't read too much into this victory but we can enjoy it.

The best part for me was that a bunch of young players realised that their time had come. The route to success is tortuous and wildly undulating but if Pakistan can consistently muster today's spirit they will keep their fans with them. It has been a long time since a Pakistan team looked so full of energy--and if any Australians or South Africans were watching, yes this was energetic for the boys in green.

But the crowning glory was the adrenaline rush of Shahid Afridi's innings and the joy it returned to fans and players alike. Afridi, the man who could have been King, began the Age of Malik with a show of daring and unity that was a symbol of the team's spirit. Let's hope it continues.

	A sullen Inzamam-ul-Huq sits through the inquiry which later held him responsible for Pakistan's World Cup debacle © AFP

It was thoroughly decent of the inquiry to get the sordid business of the World Cup out of the way before Pakistan toss off against Sri Lanka. Now Shoaib Malik’s team can think about the job of resurrecting Pakistan as a competitive cricket team—which is exactly what they were a year ago.

The rot set in during the tour of England when Inzy’s troublesome ways were being openly discussed by people close to the team. The cricket board, of course, should have managed Inzamam to maximise the chances of Pakistan winning the World Cup, instead Dr Ashraf spent his time maximising his own chances of remaining chairman of the board.

Hence, while Inzy must take a fair share of the blame for the disaster, the strength of the inquiry’s damnation is somewhat out of proportion with Inzy’s sin. An employee only persists in destructive behaviour if an employer allows him to. The World Cup failure was as much down to Dr Ashraf as it was dictated by Mr ul Haq.

Which leaves us wondering where Inzy goes next? How much of this can a man take? This winter has to be his last in Pakistan colours. Whether he plays one Test, one series, or one full domestic season of international cricket, Inzamam ul-Haq must name his date to go—and stick to it. A time limit will help the succession and let’s hope it helps restore his dignity.

Careers are marked with successes and failures, rights and wrongs, blame and absolution, heroes become villains, and villains become scapegoats. The end should be a moment to celebrate, but to celebrate properly we have to know when the end will come.

	'Pakistan cricket is a fragile creature that carries the hopes and dreams of millions around the globe, sometimes fulfills them, but too often lurches from one disaster to the next' © AFP

Pakistan cricket is a fragile creature that carries the hopes and dreams of millions around the globe, sometimes fulfills them, but too often lurches from one disaster to the next. But as my fellow writer Nauman Niaz put it in a comment in response to a previous blog, redemption comes cheap.

Today we stand in optimism behind Shoaib Malik, an intellectual lightweight—see Nadia Khan’s interview if you disagree—but an enthusiastic heavyweight. Many of us dare to believe that this time it will be different, youth will sweep away the anti-professionalism of Big Inzy’s era. We have gifted redemption for nothing in return. The rest of the world—including Pakistan fans of the pragmatic school—believes us redemption-comes-cheap wallas to be mad fools. And so be it—it’s more fun that way.

Now all Shoaib and the Boyz need do is to vindicate us. When they face World Cup finalists Sri Lanka in the furnace of Abu Dhabi, Pakistan will be the ones with a point to prove, hungry for success. Sri Lanka, shorn of their mighty bowlers and sapped of desire, should be the Bangladesh to Pakistan’s India.

If the Boyz stumble at this first surmountable hurdle they might rediscover that just as redemption comes cheap, anger comes quickly. The next two years will be a rocky road and we should be patient in judgment—but sometimes it is too hard to bite your tongue.

This moment feels like a step into the unknown. I hope it stretches into a triumphant leap. That is exactly what the cheap redemption of millions deserves.

	Mohammad Asif is a feisty bowler with an engaging on-field persona © AFP

Mohammad Asif, the McGrath of Sheikhapura, has been appointed Pakistan's vice-captain. This is a bold move by the PCB, who have now firmly stated their intention to invest in a new generation of Pakistan cricketers. Already, Asif has shown himself to be an outstanding fast bowler, somebody whose career might reach astronomical heights.

He is a feisty bowler with an engaging on-field persona. But just as early he has fallen into the snare of nandrolone, inadvertently if we are to believe his protestations - and there is no reason not to. A WADA inquiry hangs over him. If I were working for WADA I would consider only one thing worse than a suspect sportsman playing international sport, and that would be a suspect sportsman in a position of responsibility.

Mohammad Asif might well be a judicious choice as vice captain but it is injudicious to appoint him before the WADA business is done. A vice too early for the young man's good.