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Andrew Strauss expressed his huge disappointment that England threw away a winning position after his side slumped to a series defeat against Pakistan.
Needing just 145 to level the series in Abu Dhabi, England were bowled out for 72 in 36.1 overs as they failed to pass the test against Pakistan's twin spin threat of Abdur Rehman and Saeed Ajmal.
The pair took eight of the 10 wickets to fall, leaving Strauss feeling the pain of his first series defeat since he took the captaincy on a full-time basis in early 2009.
"It's bitterly disappointing to lose a game you should have won," he said.
"I'd struggle to think of a loss that's hurt more than this.
"It was so disappointing after working so hard over the course of the game to put ourselves in a winning position.
"Having done all that hard work, you need to go on and complete the job - and we just didn't play well enough individually and collectively."
Strauss was also pointed out that England's opponents had played a very good game.
"I think it's very important in circumstances like this, and particularly after this game of cricket, to give a lot of credit to Pakistan," he said.
"They've been a good, close-knit unit - and they've got some very good spin bowlers. Ultimately, they've played better cricket than we did."
While England's batting hinted at improvements against spin in the first innings, they still have a long way to go before they can consider themselves proficient.
There was no doubt that both Tests have been lost with bat rather than ball.
"We all know that. We're not going to run away from that," said Strauss.
"As a batting unit we have to hold our hands up and say we haven't done well enough.
"There are no excuses - we need to be better than that.
"But if it was easy then anyone could do it - that is why it is called Test cricket.
"It tests you out with your technique and your temperament and your range of shots.
"We haven't come up trumps in this game and there will be regrets."
Your Comments
jack
Getting to the top of the tree is the easier part, but staying there is much more difficult, as England is beginning to find out. Furthermore, playing and winning in one's backyard is much easier than competing abroad in the sub-continent, as all teams have found out in the past. Once a team masters both, then and only then, can they be acclaimed as the number one team in the world and not before. Australia, and WI in their prime are the only two who were the rightful owners of that title. India did manage to hold on to it for nigh on twenty months or so, and everyone is waiting and watching to see whether England can do the same. When a team reaches the top, all the others start attacking it, and to stay atop of the tree, one has to find the form and the tenacity to do so. However, it seems that at the moment, there is no specific top team, and this makes for more compelling viewing. This test between Pakistan and England was a treat to watch, and I for one enjoyed every minute of it. Kudos to both teams for providing an interesting match, inspite of the low scores, unlike the other games like India vs Australia, and Zimbabwe vs New Zealand, which were both very one sided.