(BBC) Captain Andrew Strauss insists England will not be distracted by the upcoming Ashes when they begin their Test series against Pakistan today.
England face Australia, their fiercest rivals, at the end of 2010 but must first tackle Pakistan in a four-Test series which begins at Trent Bridge.
“The Ashes is obviously an important goal for us but it would be wrong for us to look too far ahead,” he said.
“This is a big challenge in itself and one we’re determined to meet head on.”
The Nottingham match marks a return to Test cricket after a two-month break for England, with their last action in the longest form of the game seeing them run out 3-0 winners over Bangladesh.
Pakistan are sure to provide a sterner test, however, as they enter the first Test on the back of a three-wicket win over Australia at Headingley.
“We’re very excited about this series as a group,” said Strauss. “You can feel the buzz in the squad.
“We’re looking at this series very much as an opportunity to play really good, solid, consistent Test cricket.
“After a series against Bangladesh, and South Africa before that, this is probably a step up in quality for us and we want to make sure we don’t give the opposition any chance to take advantage of us.
“As for the Ashes, if we continue to play and improve like we have done, that will take care of itself in due course.”
England are likely to go into the match with a four-man bowling attack – most probably James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Steve Finn and Graeme Swann – with six batsmen and wicketkeeper Matt Prior.
With Ian Bell out injured, Eoin Morgan will again get an opportunity to bat at six after a couple of steady scores in the recent Test series against Bangladesh, with Jonathan Trott at three.
However, Strauss has warned against reading too much into England’s selections for this series with the Ashes in mind, saying: “Will you get an idea of our Ashes team from this series? No.
Gul with the old ball is the most dangerous because he bowls the best reverse swing that I’ve played in recent times
“The conditions for this series will be very different to the ones we’ll get in Australia, for a start. We’ve always said that we’ll pick the side that we thinks most allows us to win a Test on the day.
“Often we’ve gone with four bowlers, but we certainly wouldn’t rule out going in with five either in this Test or beyond.
“Everyone’s looking for pointers as far as the Ashes is concerned, but what we’ve been looking to get is a squad of 16 or 17 players, all of whom can do a job if called upon. We’re getting that now.”
The opening batsman was also keen to play down suggestions England will be facing a lethal Pakistan attack.
Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Aamer, Umar Gul and Danish Kaneria were hugely impressive against Australia at Headingley, but Strauss said: “It’s fair to say Pakistan bowled well against Australia, but then Headingley is a very good bowling wicket.
Butt has high hopes for Pakistan squad
“They have good variety in their attack I suppose and they’ll ask questions of our batsmen, but it’s not my job to overhype them. Most Test sides have good bowling attacks.”
Pakistan skipper Salman Butt, however, believes his attack can consider itself the best in world cricket.
“Aamer is definitely one of the best bowlers in the world at the moment,” he said. “If not the best then certainly in the top three. And Mohammad Asif is the best bowler with the new ball I’ve seen since Glenn McGrath.
“Gul with the old ball is the most dangerous because he bowls the best reverse swing that I’ve played in recent times.
“As for [leg spinner] Kaneria, we call him ‘golden arm’.”
England squad: Andrew Strauss (capt), Alastair Cook, Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood, Eoin Morgan, Matt Prior (wkt), Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann, James Anderson, Steven Finn, Tim Bresnan.
Pakistan squad: Salman Butt (capt), Imran Farhat, Azhar Ali, Umar Amin, Umar Akmal, Shoaib Malik, Kamran Akmal (wkt), Mohammad Aamer, Umar Gul, Danish Kaneria, Mohammad Asif.
Umpires: Tony Hill (NZ) and Asoka de Silva (Sri)
TV umpire: Marais Erasmus (RSA)
Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle (Sri)
