We did not read the pitch correctly

Michael Slater said to me after Pakistan's close match against Australia at Lord's on September 4 that he reckoned this would be the final replay at the Oval on September 25.

All I can say is he got close! But not close enough. In both semi-finals, the bookies' favourites were comprehensively beaten; Australia by an England side playing at an extremely high level and Pakistan by a resurgent and growing West Indies team.

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I would like to comment first on the England victory on an infinitely better Edgbaston surface that India and Pakistan played on a few days earlier.

From the word go, Australia played as they normally do and took the bowling to Gough and Harmison. But England are more resilient under Michael Vaughan these days and they held their nerve and clawed their way back into the game by restricting the Australian batsman to a total of 259.

I was not watching the game, but knowing the Edgbaston pitch of old, I turned to a friend and said that that is too many for England. When I eventually turned the television on it was obvious I was way off the mark.

Trescothick and Solanki looked good and Vaughan was sublime. They made the Australian bowlers look like Rodney Marsh's "pie throwers"! As Ricky Ponting said, "They completely outplayed us."

Indeed, not only outplayed them, but have given the Aussies a serious headache.

The reason I say that is because Pakistan did pretty well against the Aussies in Amstelveen (Holland) and at Lord's. For the first time I thought this is not the same side Pakistan competed against. They threw away two serious advantages. Which means the Australians knew they are vulnerable.

England exploited this vulnerability to the utmost. There were many plus points for the England side and they did not revolve around Freddy either. They were represented by Andrew Strauss, who learnt his early cricket in Johannesburg. I think he is a class act and a future England leader (not that Vaughan is in trouble).

The way Strauss finished the game off was outstanding and that takes courage and skill. England have laid their cards on the table and Australia will have to respond, next year!

Now to the real disappointment for me. Pakistan's unceremonious exit from the ICC Champions Trophy, of course, many well point to Pakistan's up and down nature. Indeed, the commentators and expert opinion will criticize Inzamam for batting first.

If West Indies had won the toss we would have batted anyway. There are occasions in life when the gut-feel needs to be used and today it wasn't.

Our advice was that if you bat first at the Rose Bowl and score 230-plus it is very difficult to chase. Our tactics throughout the tournament have been to send the opposition in, as it is tougher to bat first because of the prevalent conditions in the UK at this time of the year. We were also aware that the West Indies love to chase.

Instead of sticking to our game plan and our instincts we listened to this advice and although we did not bat well, and that is a matter for concern on a separate issue, we certainly should have got more runs and obviously needed to.

At 54-1, with Yasir Hameed in full flow, a brilliant piece of fielding by Bravo caused the first wobble. We then worked hard to get to 100 for 3 off 29 overs and then without any ado we succumbed for 131 in 37 overs. This, with copious no balls and wides gifted to us by the West Indian bowlers!

We were looking down the barrel and hadn't even had lunch!

Briefly, Shoaib Akthar gave us all hope. Charging in and bowling with extreme pace, he had Gayle lbw and caught Hinds with an amazing reflex return catch. It was pure theatre; thousands of Pakistani supporters had invaded the Rose bowl and with horns a thunder and passion gave Pakistan some hope.

But Sarwan, surely the natural successor to Brian Lara, played a superb innings and took the game away from the Pakistan team. While we can blame ourselves for not reading the pitch correctly, we also have to give credit to the West Indies attack, not the famous for firing on all cylinders, but four medium pacers bowling an excellent length and causing far too much doubt in the Pakistan batsmen's minds.

Well done to the West Indies, but are they able to give a resurgent England side a game at the Oval?

I think England are now too strong, too confident, and will go on to win the ICC Champions Trophy, which will be vindication of five years planning and hard labour that Duncan Fletcher and his back room staff have put into the game.

Considering it took Bobby Simpson 4-6 years, and in my own experience with Warwickshire and South Africa, this is the sort of time that it takes to get a team to be at its best, then these are early days for Pakistan and it's new team.

It clearly shows that making a team successful is a long-term job, and must not be confused with that of a manager's role in football.

Australia and Pakistan now leave the ICC Champions Trophy and have to regroup while the Oval hosts the final of what has been an interesting tournament played at the wrong end of England's summer.