'This is an important result for us' - Inzamam

It is tempting, in the aftermath of an emphatic win and an equally convincing series triumph, to underplay the significance of this entire series. But after the traumas of the England tour and the Champions Trophy, any win is to be welcomed.

For Inzamam-ul-Haq, glowing no doubt from being chosen the best fielder of the entire series, a winning return as captain was a definite relief. "Victories will always improve the confidence and morale of a team, any win," he told the media after Pakistan's series-clinching seven-wicket triumph at the National Stadium in Karachi. "After the disappointments in England and India, we needed to win and in that sense this is an important result for us."

Intangibles like confidence and morale aside, there were specific gains for Pakistan in the emergence of Abdur Rehman and the return to form of Rana Naved-ul-Hasan. Rehman was impressive again today, with two more wickets, one a particularly pleasant stumping off Marlon Samuels.

It was Rana's exemplary death-overs spell though which reaped the awards and ultimately proved pivotal to the result, mixing yorkers and slower balls with the smoothness of a cocktail barman. Lack of full fitness robbed him of his sharpness in England and India but 11 wickets in the ODI series made for a worthy Man-of-the-Series performance. It also means, with the probable returns of Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Asif (and even Shabbir Ahmed), the progress of Umar Gul and an encouraging comeback from Mohammad Sami, that Pakistan's pace reserves are frighteningly vast. Choosing the right combination will be a particularly pleasant headache.

"I am very happy with the way our fast bowlers have done in this series," beamed Inzamam. "These pitches aren't great for fast bowling but all of our bowlers did exceptionally well on them. Shoaib and Asif are excellent bowlers and no doubt their return will bolster our attack. But that doesn't mean that those who did well here will be overlooked."

Options for openers are also plentiful, and Pakistan tried out yet another combination today - successfully at least - but the headache is not so tolerable here. Mohammad Hafeez and Kamran Akmal both enjoyed themselves and Akmal's maiden ODI fifty was also his first significant score in his last 24 ODIs. That hundred came at this ground too, almost exactly a year ago. Inzamam though stayed schtum on whether a pair had been finalised.

"We have experimented with openers over the series and one or two players are doing well now. We have an idea of who they will be for the World Cup. But we have enough options and Imran Farhat was rested today. We also wanted to see Yasir Hameed and he is in good form too, so it isn't so much of a problem at the moment."

The West Indies certainly won't look for too much meaning in this result. A listless defeat wasn't the best way to end an arduous three-month road trip but fruits have emerged, particularly in the shape of performances from some of their younger players.

It wasn't from a lack of confidence that the tourists came away with little by way of results on this tour, as Bennett King, their coach, reflected. But as today proved, when they lost their way in the last ten overs, plans weren't always executed as well as they could have been. Still, encouragement can be gleaned.

"It has been a learning curve for the younger guys. We have had some success over this period, making it to the finals of two competitions. We desperately wanted to draw this series but it wasn't to be but I think everyone has learnt something from this tour," King said.

The sides will reacquaint themselves in three months' time now, in rather more meaningful circumstances - the small matter of the opening game of the 2007 World Cup. What happened here, King insisted, will not matter then. "We will be ready for Pakistan when they come for that and I am sure they will be ready for us too. We've progressed a fair bit from when we last met Pakistan in the West Indies (they lost the ODI series 3-0) so we're looking forward to that." As indeed will the rest of the world.