The Emirates Cricket Board have ended a year of inertia by finally appointing a permanent successor to Aaqib Javed as head coach.
Dougie Brown, the Scotsman who was the third interim coach the UAE had in the 12 months since Aaqib headed back to Pakistan, has now been handed the role full time, starting on June 1.
Back so soon?
It is only 26 days since his three-month spell in temporary charge ended with a series win in Oman, so his in-tray will hardly be overflowing with new correspondence.
Still, though, the troubles the national team have had since they qualified for the 50-over World Cup two years ago have not gone for good - even if he did such a good job of arresting the slide between February and May.
Taken them far already
Brown might be ruing doing such a good job in his interim stint. OK, so it landed him the permanent role. But where does he go from here?
The team got a first four-day win in 1,295 days. They claimed ODI and T20 series wins. And a number of players earned some significant personal milestones. How can their coach improve on that?
The professionals
Some senior UAE players have felt disorientated over the past 12 months. Professionalism, by way of eight full-time central contracts and four part-time retainers, has been introduced for the first time, but what does that mean?
Aaqib, the coach who made the initial recommendations has gone. Three more - Paul Franks, Owais Shah, and Brown - added their ideas in the meantime. Too many cooks? Brown needs to put his stamp on what he feels professionalism should look like here.
New blood
Even though the national team had been misfiring for two years, the starting XI has actually looked settled and balanced for some while, now.
The core will not change, as most of them are centrally contracted professionals. But finding space for Chirag Suri will be a vital challenge for Brown, to ensure the lessons the young Dubai batsman learnt with Gujarat Lions in the Indian Premier League last.
Win loads
Woeful results in the World Cricket League mean the UAE are on the brink of missing out on even qualifying for the qualifying competition for the next World Cup.
They are in danger of going down to Division Two - the third tier of international competition - and potentially being lost in the ether. They need to be perfect in series away to Namibia, and at home to Nepal, later this year to stand any chance of avoiding that fate. No pressure.
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