THAT'S it for England in this World Cup then - and for Nasser Hussain as one- day captain too.

It has certainly been some week, full of drama and excitement, twists and turns.

First there was that superb match against Australia. Cricket viewing doesn't come much more pulsating than that. The Worthington Cup final may have been on TV at the same time but it was no contest.

It was so disappointing for England to falter when victory was so close, but yet again we have to salute the brilliance of the Australians.

Andy Bichel's bowling was quite magnificent, especially after England had got off to a flyer with Marcus Trescothick and Nick Knight feasting on some wayward short stuff from Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee.

This was another classic case of an Aussie sticking his hand up when the pressure was on.

And later with the bat it was Bichel, in partnership with the leading batsman in one-day cricket, Michael Bevan, who again stepped up to the plate.

Many English observers would have thought the game was in the bag when Lee was dismissed and Australia were eight wickets down with England's 204 total some way off.

But I'm afraid I was still very sceptical even at that stage. I have suffered at the hands of Bichel's batting before - when he hammered a century for Worcestershire in the Benson & Hedges Cup against Glamorgan two seasons ago - so I knew what he was capable of, and I was also well aware that Bevan seems to soak up the pressure of these situations like a sponge.

I know it is easy to criticise from the sidelines and I have experienced much of it as captain, but I must admit I was a little surprised that Hussain did not put more pressure on Bichel early in his innings.

It seemed too easy for him to pick off singles and he did not have to take any undue risks in order either to keep the score moving or to rotate the strike with the remarkable Bevan.

And then, of course, there was the contentious decision to allow James Anderson to bowl the 49th over instead of Andy Caddick, who was having a fine day with the ball.

It was a spur of the moment decision based on Anderson's previous over, which had consisted of a number of slower balls which had successfully bamboozled the batsmen.

However, Bichel was waiting for that slower ball this time and hoisted it over mid-wicket for six. That changed the game and then the next ball virtually finished it for England - Bichel squeezing it wide of mid on where Caddick, maybe in protest at Hussain's glaring lack of faith in him, made a feeble attempt to stop it.

It still might have been interesting if Andrew Flintoff had managed to hold on to a sharp chance in the last over from Bichel.

But it was not to be, and England had to wait until Tuesday and hope the Pakistanis might do them a favour. But rain intervened and sent Zimbabwe through.

All sorts of questions are now being asked about the qualifying procedure, as Zimbabwe have only beaten Holland and Namibia in order to progress.

But we all knew that when England decided not to play their match in Harare that it was unlikely that they would qualify for the Super Sixes.

And the upshot has been Hussain's decision to quit the one- day leadership and rule himself out of any further international one-day cricket.

This was no real surprise to me - the end of a World Cup is a natural watershed - but I do think Hussain could have prolonged his one-day career by dropping down the order and establishing himself as the 'finisher' which England have lacked for so long.

His insistence (his stubbornness, like that of one of his predecessors, Mike Atherton, is both a virtue and a weakness) on batting at either three or four has exposed his low strike rate and his record is not what it might have been.

Nevertheless, it is good news he has decided to stay on as Test skipper. He is a natural leader of men and the players have responded well to him during his tenure. As for his one-day successor, that is a difficult one.

The two younger candidates will naturally be Vaughan and Trescothick, but I would not go for either.

Vaughan has been unable to transfer his majestic Test form to the one-day game and Trescothick currently has enough problems with his own game without being saddled with this.

I would go for Adam Hollioake, the Surrey skipper.

He has done the job before, enjoying considerable success in winning the Sharjah Trophy, and was a little unlucky not to be included in this World Cup party.