In the latest edition of his exclusive diary for CricInfo, England's acting captain Alec Stewart reflects on Pakistan's victory in the Second Test at Old Trafford, and looks ahead to the NatWest Triangular Series between England, Australia and Pakistan.

It's disappointing to lose any game, and not to have won our fifth series on the trot, but it's still five series that we haven't lost. We competed with Pakistan throughout the game, apart from just three hours' cricket when we lost 16 wickets. We collapsed in the first innings and again in the second, but having said that Pakistan have done it to all sides over the past ten years. They did it to us in '92 and '96, and again at Old Trafford. But the bottom line is that over five Tests against Pakistan in the last six months, we've come out 2-1 on top.

There were positives, in the shape of Vaughan, Trescothick and Hoggard. Michael Vaughan has looked the part ever since he came into the Test arena. It's always nice to score your first Test hundred – it gives you a huge lift as a person, because you suddenly know you can play at this level. He's been in fantastic form this year – he batted well at Lord's and continued the form into this game. As for Matthew Hoggard, it wasn't a bowler-friendly wicket – it's one of the best Test wickets we've played on in recent times. There was a very strong wind coming down the ground when we bowled, and he did an excellent job. When he got his first wicket he grew in confidence, and I thought his bowling was a huge plus point throughout the game.

Inzamam was the difference between the two sides – he batted well in both innings. We had him caught off a no ball in the first innings and dropped him in the second – they're the sort of things you can't afford to do. But well played Pakistan – I was just disappointed that after our performances over the past 12 months, this one was a bit down and below par. We dropped five catches, bowled a number of no balls and lost 16 wickets for 140 runs. It was disappointing, but I know we can bounce back.

Pakistan, with Wasim, Waqar and Saqlain, are on their day the most destructive bowling attack in world cricket. When you're batting in the middle of the order and lose a stack of wickets, you can be left high and dry like I was in the first innings – but you can't do too much about it. But I was happy with the way I batted and kept wicket – just disappointed with my judgement batting in the second innings. I picked the delivery correctly, but my feet weren't in the right position.

We know what Pakistan are capable of doing. There had been a lot written in the papers about how we could win the game, and we were aware of all that. But by half an hour after lunch they'd shut the game off from us – Saqlain had bowled two feet outside Trescothick's leg stump to stop him scoring, the ball was reversing, they bowled a very good testing spell at Michael Vaughan. But even at teatime we knew the game wasn't safe and we had to bat well, but on this occasion we weren't able to do it.

There's no rest for the wicked – we meet Pakistan again on Thursday in front of a packed house at Edgbaston. Of the three sides we're the least experienced by a long way – and it's something we have to look at, and make sure that between now and the World Cup we play as much one-day cricket as possible. I've played in 140-odd one-day internationals, more than any other Englishman, but that's way down the list of one-day caps in world cricket, and I've been playing for 10 or 11 years. So we are a very inexperienced one-day side, and we've almost got to start from scratch.

Australia and Pakistan are two fine sides – you don't get to the World Cup Final unless you're a good side. They're numbers one and two in the world and we're certainly below them. We may be playing at home, but it's going to be hard.

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