The masters of unpredictability are at it again. From the dizzy heights of defeating Australia in a one-day tournament in June, Pakistan have fallen to earth in a shambles. What is most disturbing is the speed of this descent. What is almost as disturbing is the lack of intelligent options being put forward by the Pakistan Cricket Board. A quick trip down memory lane reveals that such a sudden dip in form usually happens when there is disharmony. Indeed, much of Waqar Younis's success up to the middle of this year was because he had managed to unite the team. But it seems that success may have gone to Waqar's head. For many months there have been rumbles from within the camp suggesting that Waqar has been taking less and less heed of his senior colleagues. In a culture steeped in hierarchy, this is not the most prudent path to have taken.

There have also been complaints about the people skills of Yawar Saeed, Pakistan's team manager. And more still about the myopic strategies of Mudassar Nazar, the coach. Pakistan have hired fielding coaches and physiotherapists like they are going out of fashion. They have even signed up a "thought leader," a Svengali to lead them to the promised land of positive thinking. All this activity has done little more than smack of bad management with a hint of desperation.

Now Wasim Akram and Saeed Anwar have pulled out of the upcoming Tests against Australia in Sri Lanka and Sharjah - the biggest series that is likely to come their way before they retire. No-one knows if Rashid Latif wants to be in or out - but you have to wonder why he would want to sit out for even a day after all the cricket he has missed. And Inzamam-ul-Haq's heels have finally succumbed to the weight that they have borne all these years. The batting line-up is in disarray, and the bowlers are either over the hill or underprepared. Pakistan now look set for thumping defeats at the hands of Australia and South Africa, followed by embarrassment at the World Cup. Which makes this perfect timing for match fixing rumours to resurface ... and of course they have.

What to do? Pakistan spend too much time revisiting past nightmares and hiring half-competent staff. Remember that in the land of incompetents the half-competent man is king. A management cull is what is needed. Mudassar, worthy but uninspiring, should return to his job at the Pakistan Academy. But this should not be a cue for the recall of the South African Richard Pybus, the only non-Pakistani whose telephone number the PCB seems to know. Pybus's biggest success as coach has been timing his departures before the going gets too hot and his reputation is frazzled.

It is also time to kiss goodbye to Yawar Saeed, who has been the team manager, on and off, for over a decade. Since this has been the most disruptive decade in Pakistan's history you might think that he would have the decency to leave Pakistan cricket in peace. If not, the PCB ought to tell him to.

Waqar, I suspect, would do better with perceptive management to guide him. It makes little sense to dislodge him with the World Cup imminent. But few captains are safe once their form fails them, especially if you are a captain whose authority stems from example. The PCB knew that when they hired him. This is another fine mess that they have got Pakistan cricket into, and you would be pushed to be sure whether Laurel and Hardy could have done a worse job. One reaction would be to throw your hands up in the air and say that this is the nature of Pakistan and Pakistan cricket. A less predictable one would be to say that it is time for this comedy of errors to end.

Kamran Abbasi, born in Lahore, brought up in Rotherham, is deputy editor of the British Medical Journal.

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