So it’s all down to Mickey Arthur -- or is it? The new Pakistan coach from South Africa has expressed the kind of exuberance that makes for a good copy, throwing in a nice blend of hard knuckle and fun-integrated regimen as his whistle-off. The promised "roots to grow, wings to fly" mantra will probably make most fancied blurb writer jealous. Well, sort of.

But the proof of the pudding, of course, lies in its eating. We’ll have to wait and see how Arthur’s good intentions meet the real -- and sometimes, nasty -- McCoys at home. PCB honchos are not exactly known to stay out of the business of people they think they own, after hiring, even if they may lie low for a while.

But even more testing would be the people Arthur is directly assigned to deal with: the players. Notoriously lethargic, immune to logic, and given to Machiavellian ways if they sense an unforgiving field marshal is at hand -- these are some of the red rags Arthur may have to contend with if things go south.

He will also have to open up to the burly Inzamam-ul-Haq, who, will no doubt want to stamp his authority after publicly raising the stakes in sounding out "independence" as a virtue. That he has already put out to pasture the usual suspects, Ahmed Shehzad and Umar Akmal, and not considered Shahid Afridi even amongst the 35 probables for the forthcoming England tour is a pointer, although some will argue that it may be a move blessed by the board after recurring disciplinary breaches. Indeed, he stuck to his guns by refusing to consider an attempt by Shehzad, with Younis Khan by his side, to give him an immediate chance at redemption.

Afridi’s is a different case to which I’ll return a while.

If all of this sounds a bit cynical, there’s a bit of history to ponder. To be sure, Arthur is not new to troubles in the dressing room, and out. After all, he was infamously shown the door by Cricket Australia for precisely the same reasons -- the inability to maintain discipline amongst his wards following a damaging tour to India, in 2013.

That the first foreign coach of Australia was sacked only 13 days prior to the Ashes, tells you how serious the employers were in drawing the line. Compared to the murmurs of infighting in the Australian team and their general disapproval of Arthur’s scripted high performance methods, temperamental Pakistani players may prove to be tougher customers to handle.

Arthur boasts of a decent record, particularly in taking South Africa to the summit across all three formats during his stabilising five-year tenure between 2010 and ’15. Not to take anything away from his skillset or prowess, but few will disagree that the Proteas have long enjoyed a reputation for producing thoroughly professional players so drawn to discipline as to appear machine-like, even boring.

Pakistanis, on the other hand, Arthur knows, will likely throw him up his biggest challenge. Before him, all four foreign coaches -- Richard Pybus, Bob Woolmer, Geoff Lawson and Dave Whatmore -- came to grief. With the possible exception of Woolmer, who, probably couldn’t take it anymore -- he was found dead in the team’s hotel after Ireland knocked Pakistan out of the World Cup in 2007 -- the rest struggled to even fit in, much less give a much needed new direction.

The biggest hurdle to blazing a new trail is the profound lack of communication skills at the end of our players, most of who come from modest backgrounds with scant grooming in terms of what it takes to be an international in this era of intense media scrutiny and the overall performance before live TV cameras.

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Astonishingly, the PCB has still not taken any steps to address the shortcoming that has become embarrassingly obvious around the cricketing world, reducing Pakistan to a laughing stock when most of these players, her supposed ambassadors, are unable to express themselves in the lingua franca.

It is of course, all very convenient to suggest that it is not the board’s responsibility per se and that, at the end of the day, it is performance on the park that matters. One wonders how many failures will it take for the players and the board to realise that success in today’s sport is a whole package -- proper schooling/grooming goes hand in hand with prowess on the field.

While our players and the board continue to ignore this fundamental requirement, coaching elsewhere is becoming ever more scientific and goal oriented where biomechanics, nutrition and psychology all play a significant part -- assuming that the players are up to understanding the demands of professional sport.

To enable Arthur to make a difference, it is imperative that there are no barriers to -- or breakdown in -- communication. The South African is a high performance coach unlike the ones which we have had from Pakistan, who, more often than not have betrayed a parochial streak in terms of personal likes and dislikes.

It is here that one hopes his being a foreigner will essentially make a difference in approach -- as his first few interactions appear to indicate. It is also heartening to note that as well as recognising the long form consistency under Misbah-ul-Haq, he is benchmarking performances outside the UAE as the real challenge.

Arthur has also slipped in his workbook for Afridi, if at all, by saying it’s good that the all-rounder is eying a county stint but that he needs to speak to the selectors about his future. From what one gathers, it is almost fait accompli -- a polite way of hinting that he is past his sell-by date -- a view strongly shared by the board and experts.

Perhaps, the most crucial change pertains to the team ethic Arthur was referencing when he said, "I want everybody to start playing for the team and I don’t want any selfish players around." If he manages to see this through, there will be lesser chances of a wrinkled forehead.