No doubt many will try and spin Shahid Afridi's retirement from Test cricket as the latest in a long line of embarrassments for Pakistan. In reality it is quite the opposite, Afridi's move appears to mark an overdue return to sanity within the Pakistani ranks.

There is no doubt that Afridi together with new coach Waqar Younis have galvanised a side low on confidence but high on talent. One only has to look at the team's performances in the two T20 games preceding this week's Test to see not only the spirit but the commitment in the camp. But at Lord's, Afridi was no longer leading his side to bigger and better things, he was dead weight dragging them down.

A glance at Afridi's dismissal in the second innings and you see the negative impact he was having on the team. Having faced three deliveries he tried an unnecessary and frankly ridiculous slog sweep that went down the throat of Mike Hussey in the deep.

While the shot not only opened up Pakistan's lower order, it also sent the wrong message to his team, after all if the skipper can play with gay abandon why can't the rest of the unit? Looking at the dismissal of young Mohmmad Aamer you can see the immediate effect of such a move. Facing up to Marcus North the 18-year-old top edged a slog sweep into the outfield, well wide of the man at deep square leg. Ricky Ponting reacted by placing a man at deep midwicket. The very next ball Aamer repeated the shot - the result? He lofted it straight down the throat of that very fielder, and Pakistan slid closer to defeat.

It was obviously Afridi was not having the right effect on the team, and tremendous credit must go to the man for realising that he was doing neither himself nor Pakistan any good by hanging around on the Test scene, in a format that he's never really made his own.

Having announced his retirement Afridi admitted he had been pressured into returning to the Test team, and he was quick to admit "I made a mistake". But what Afridi has not made a mistake in is the man recommended to replace him, Salman Butt.

Butt was one of the few senior players whose reputation was not smudged by the Australian tour debacle and the saga that followed. He is young, fresh blood, but appears to have the temperament for Test cricket. Whether this will translate from his batting to captaincy remains to be seen but the early signs are positive.

Yes, today was another dramatic day in the world of cricket and yes, yet another senior player will no longer don the whites for Pakistan but for once it's not a day for total despair, maybe, just maybe for once a hasty decision in the Pakistan ranks is the right one.