Monday's abandoned friendly against the Netherlands here at the VRA Ground, just outside Amster-dam, the final match of Pakistan's Dutch visit, was one of several fixtures either cut short or cancelled because of rain.

However, Pakistan did manage to squeeze two games in during the preceding triangular series, a rain-affected 66-run win against arch-rivals India and a 17-run defeat against Australia in Saturday's final.

"We are definitely going forward and closer to where we want to be," Woolmer told AFP. "We weren't able to complete some of the things we wanted to do out here but that was because of the weather.

"But we are playing as a team and if we can maintain that momentum we definitely have a genuine chance of doing well in the Champions Trophy."

Former England batsman Woolmer, best known in recent years as the coach of South Africa, added he was looking forward to returning "home".

"For me it's a case of 'have team will travel'. But my son lives in London and it will also be nice to go back to Edgbaston (where Woolmer was the coach of English county side Warwickshire)."

Monday's match saw Pakistan finish on 122 for six in 22.4 overs after a wet outfield had already reduced the match to a 25 overs per side contest.

Pakistan slumped to 78 for six before an unbroken stand of 44 between all-rounder Abdul Razzaq (24 not out) and wicketkeeper Moin Khan (20 not out).

However, some teams would have completely given up on such a match, especially as the weather made the chances of a positive result all but non-existent.

But Woolmer, who before becoming Pakistan coach was the ICC's high-performance manager, a job where his brief was to help improve the standard of cricket's junior nations, had no qualms.

Rene van Ierschot, President of the KNCB (the Dutch Cricket Board) insisted his organisation would not be in dire straits despite the bad weather.

And he added the weather had made the KNCB even more determined to stage future international matches.

"We want to have another tournament and show the world that we can have good weather in this country," said Van Ierschot after the Netherlands staged its first top-flight cricket contests since the VRA hosted a World Cup game between South Africa and Kenya in 1999.

"This event has helped promote cricket here. We've shown we can host a tournament like this and we've also developed a blueprint we can build on for next time."

And van Ierschot said he hoped a future tournament would give the national side more of a chance to shine.

"I think our players could be involved in warm-up matches. They wouldn't mind playing back-to-back games."