Here I sit, writing on the eve of the Pakistan cricket team’s plummet to despair. All is certainly not well in the Pakistan camp tonight.

Actually, the cracks have always been there. Pakistan have always been a mercurial side at best; brilliant one day, trash the next.

However, in the past year, especially after the England series at home and the one away against India, the Pakistan team was showing a lot of gumption under the able captaincy of Inzamam and the coach Bob Woolmer. They looked like a composite and solid unit at that time, with batting and bowling going well and all the big names performing.

The Pakistani fans all thought, "Can it be possible?"

"Have we finally turned the corner?"

Well, they didn't have to wait too long until the old familiar face of controversy reared its head in England. The Pakistan team was looking out of sorts even before "Hairgate" happened.

With their top bowler Shoaib Akhtar out and also the enforced absense of Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Asif, they were barely hanging on to some kind of fight in the Test matches.

After 'Hairgate' however the slide began.

They started the ODI series in England well enough, all cannons firing and with all their stars back for action, but it did not take long for them to slip from a 2-0 lead to a 2-2 draw. This, in my opinion was the chief architect for how Pakistan's spirit ebbed to its present level.

Things were not too well back home either, after the team returned. The reason for this was the problems arising between Shahreyar Khan and Younis Khan (the new captain) after Inzamam was ruled out for the ICC Champions Trophy. Board and player dealings are best kept private, but it all exploded in the Pakistan teams’ and the PCB’s faces after the ridiculous statement by Younis Khan. We all know what happened next. The revolving door of Pakistani cricket made its appearance along with still more controversy before and after the team’s departure to India. We then ended up losing our main strike bowlers to a doping test coming back positive.

In spite of all this adversity and controversy Pakistan started off like cornered tigers against Sri Lanka in the Champions Trophy, coming out with a smile and fighting for a brilliant win over the red hot favourite of the tournament to defeat them. Next came the New Zealand match and although they fought until the very end, Stephen Fleming and his team out played them to an emphatic win. Today’s match against South Africa just proved the points that Pakistan really needs to work on if they are to have any hope for the world cup plus the upcoming series to South Africa, and the home one with the West Indies before that. The team is certainly missing its two most potent pace weapons, without which our attack, although led well by Umar Gul, does not have enough teeth for the kill. Even today we had South Africa reeling at 47/5, but our second string - namely Razzaq and Arafat - was not good enough to finish them off. The problem is that our new first string attack used to be our second string, and for all the talk of pace demons hanging at the fringes of the team waiting to get in, the bench seems kind of empty.

Our batting will be bolstered by the return of Inzamam after this tournament, but as a team Pakistan really need to find someone other than the 2 Ys and Inzamam to show some fight and spirit, and not just for one match. We need dependable batsmen at the top, which we have not had for a number of years. We also need a fielding coach, far more than a bowling coach as demonstrated by the various gaffes the team makes in the field. Last but not least the Pakistan team needs able leadership beyond Inzamam, who will retire at some point. Currently as shown in the Champions Trophy, Younis Khan has not been able to impress beyond one match, in which also he had little to do with the win.

Everything in the Pakistan setup has changed from top down in the last month; the PCB’s chairman, board members, captains, assistant coaches, the entire pace attack.

We really need stability, because Pakistan will not win the World Cup on talent alone. The team needs to restructure its self and the board on a truly merit based system, so if a player does not perform for a said number of games he is replaced. Persistence with a failing individual like Shahid Afridi does not pay off in the long run. We also need someone to produce pacy wickets like the one Pakistan and South Africa played on today, perhaps in Karachi, my home city where even today lies the fastest wicket in Pakistan - by our standards of course. Inzamam and Woolmer have a huge job ahead of the World Cup, to pull us back from the brink we are standing on, threatening to collapse any minute into oblivion.

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