EOIN Morgan thinks England failed to adapt to the conditions in Cardiff after they checked out of the Champions Trophy with an embarrassing eight-wicket semi-final defeat to Pakistan.

Morgan's men returned to Wales on the back of an unblemished group-stage campaign with their eye on a third successive home final in this tournament, and an ongoing statement of their intent for the 2019 World Cup on home soil.

But after mustering only a meek 211 all out on an awkward surface, they managed to delay Pakistan for a mere 37.1 overs as the tourists instead booked their place at The Oval this weekend – possibly against their great rivals India, who face Bangladesh in Thursday's second semi-final at Edgbaston.

"One thing we didn't do today was adapt to conditions," Morgan told Sky Sports 2. "Coming from Edgbaston which was a good wicket to a used wicket, we didn't adapt very well.

"Pakistan did that extremely well and full credit to them. They outplayed us today on this wicket.

"I don't think we were simply used to it. We did prepare like we were going to play on a used wicket. Pakistan bowled well but we didn't manage to adjust with the bat. Two hundred isn't a competitive score.

"We looked at the game they played previously, 250, 270 would have been a good score."

The match took place on a pitch which had already been used in the tournament, when Pakistan beat Sri Lanka in their Group B clash.

However, Morgan did not think that was the reason for England's demise.

"It's the way the tournament is. We knew that coming into the tournament," Morgan said of the pitch.

"It's the test of the Champions Trophy. You have to be able to be good in all conditions. There's no home advantage for any side.

"I thought we bowled okay but certainly defending 200 we have to produce a well above-par bowling performance. If we had put 280 on the board it might have been a different game.

"I don't think we did play anything rash today. Everything we did play was quite calculated. We did try and adjust to the wicket. It was simply the fact that Pakistan have played on the wicket already and that helped them."

The 30-year-old thinks England need to focus more on knockout cricket if they are going to improve.

He added: "One of the things about knockout cricket is that you have to adapt to conditions. It's a big challenge jumping from venue to venue but we're going to have to do that with the World Cup so it's important for us to go through games like today for our experience."

England coach Trevor Bayliss thinks that exiting the tournament at this stage is probably correct when considering the hosts' ranking in world cricket.

"All credit to Pakistan today, they were too good for us," Bayliss said.

"Two hundred and fifty or 260 would have been a good score and then it would have been a different run chase. Our bowlers probably tried to chase the wickets too much and served up too many half volleys.

"There's a number of our guys who haven't been at this level before and it is a learning curve.

"Finishing third or fourth, I think that's about right where we sit in world cricket at the moment. We've got a long way to go until we reach the level we want to get to and a level I believe we're good enough to get to."