Thirty-four years and rising. England's ludicrously long wait for a world crown goes on with not even a passionate home crowd at the Brit Oval able to roar them into a semi-final.

That's right - after nine World Cups, half a dozen or so Champions Trophies and now two World Twenty20s, the country that is remarkably good at inventing games but not so flash when it comes to winning them still has an empty mantelpiece as global limited-overs competitions are concerned.

To be fair to Paul Collingwood's squad of honest triers, we didn't really expect any more of them in this event than to reach the Super Eight stage and then go down fighting. Which is exactly what happened. But to be so close to a semi-final place, after defeating holders India, and then to lose to West Indies, a side England have beaten throughout May and early June, is a real letdown.

Rain did not help the home cause last night, turning a 20-over target of 162 into a nine-over dash for 80, but everyone knew the weather might play a part and Collingwood, having won the toss, chose to bat first.

Forget the circumstances, though. Realistically, England were never going to win the World Twenty20, not even on their home soil, because they are still playing catch-up when it comes to this shortest form of the game as a result of key people like Collingwood, Stuart Broad, James Anderson and even Kevin Pietersen having played less of it than their opposite numbers.

Generally, our domestic Twenty20 cricket takes place when the country's biggest names are on Test or 50-over duty. And as for the Indian Premier League, where stars collide on a daily basis for seven weeks each year, England's finest have precious few appearances on their CVs.

"It is very important we do play more Twenty20 cricket if we want to try to win these sort of competitions," said Collingwood while West Indies were celebrating a five-wicket victory achieved with four balls to spare. "But I still think the boys can take a lot of credit out of what we've done.

"Even with that lack of experience in Twenty20 cricket, we are catching up with the skills and the thought processes. A lot of it comes down to experiencing it out in the middle, understanding situations and the pressure involved."

There appears to be nothing wrong with England's planning - provide the opposition don't deviate from the script. But it is when situations change that a lack of flexibility seems to stifle Collingwood's team. There is very little thinking on their feet and that is down to not having sampled different situations in the heat of Twenty20 battle.

A lack of boundaries, after the first few overs and certainly once Pietersen is back in the pavilion, has been a recurring problem. Yet nothing very different has been tried - like promoting Broad, for example. Yesterday, only one four and two sixes were scored during the second half of the innings, and 10 of those runs came off the final two deliveries once Broad arrived.

Collingwood has lost the knack of clearing the boundary and yesterday, like James Foster and Graeme Swann, could not even reach it. Between them, the Nos5, 6 and 7 faced 31 balls without managing a four. Ah, but many will say Foster earned his keep with some excellent wicketkeeping, helping England to beat India on Sunday by stumping India's Yuvraj Singh and giving them a bit of hope yesterday thanks to a similarly sharp piece of work to get rid of Dwayne Bravo.

Eat your heart out, Matt Prior? Well, maybe, but Prior's muscular batting in the middle order might have been of even more use than Foster's slick glovework, and if anyone wants to suggest that the Essex man should play in the Ashes then they had better nominate who will bat No6 against Australia.

But Test cricket can wait a moment or two. First there is some unfinished business when it comes to discussing the Twenty20 team because the next competition of this kind, in the Caribbean, is only nine months away and a blueprint for success needs tucking away somewhere safe.

Luke Wright played one excellent knock at the top of the order - although his 71 did not prevent England from suffering a humiliating defeat by Netherlands - and he also made 34 against Pakistan. But a total of eight runs in three innings against South Africa, India and West Indies suggests he may not succeed often enough.

Ravi Bopara should go from strength to strength but the jury is out again when it comes to Owais Shah, Dimitri Mascarenhas and even Collingwood for Twenty20 cricket where boundaries are essential.

What England need to do is unearth a new Marcus Trescothick to dominate at the top of the order, have a long look at Eoin Morgan when it comes to the seven one-day internationals against Australia and, above all perhaps, hope that Andrew Flintoff stays fit.

There is a Champions Trophy to be played in South Africa this autumn, another Twenty20 in the Caribbean next spring and a World Cup on the horizon. All will seem right with English cricket if the Ashes are regained over the next couple of months.

But, in many ways, winning a trophy would be an even bigger achievement than repossessing a little urn which was in our grasp only four years ago.