GROS ISLET, May 11 It was a familiar but unwanted feeling for Daniel Vettori as his New Zealand side exited the World Twenty20 on the back of a below par batting display.

The Black Caps' three- wicket loss to England, already through to the semi-finals, here on Monday sealed their fate.

England were in trouble at 66 for four but the Kiwi bowlers were unable to defend a score of 149 for six that New Zealand captain Vettori reckoned was at least 10 runs shy of a competitive total.

As a result champions Pakistan, who earlier on Monday beat South Africa by 11 runs, went through to the last four as group runners-up on superior run-rate despite losing a last-ball thriller to New Zealand by one run last weekend.

Several New Zealand batsmen got starts against England but the fact that Ross Taylor's 44 was the Black Caps' highest individual score of the tournament spoke volumes.

Meanwhile, dashing opener Brendon McCullum couldn't live up to his reputation as one of the world's best batsmen in this format while Vettori, primarily a left-arm spinner, topped the New Zealand batting averages with 34.50.

But whatever type of cricket they've been playing lately, how to get a decent score has been a real headache for New Zealand.

“In all formats of the game that has been our problem, we just haven't been able to put enough runs on the board,” Vettori said.

“We've got some really talented batsmen but unfortunately there just weren't enough runs. We fought hard with the ball but it wasn't good enough today.”

In the absence of Kevin Pietersen, taking temporary leave to be in London for the birth of his son, England were indebted to Eoin Morgan (40) and Tim Bresnan (23 not out) for seeing them to victory.

“We've shown we can defend small totals but not being able to break through the Morgan/ Bresnan partnership until late was the real killer for us. They played exceptionally well to get their team home in a pressure situation.”—AFP