England can cope with expectations

Duncan Fletcher, the England coach, has said his side will cope with the pressure and expectations that are upon them, following their successful Ashes summer. England's regaining of the Ashes has brought cricket back into the spotlight, and reignited the public's passion for the game. But Fletcher isn't unduly concerned with the effect this might have on his side.

England fly to Pakistan on October 25 for three Tests and five one-day matches, and Fletcher has no doubt that they will rise to the challenge. "I had certain worries during the Ashes," Fletcher told Sportinglife.com. "Could they [England] step up a gear every game? There was huge pressure on us and that mounted with every game, especially after it went 1-1 [at Edgbaston].

"Now it will be totally different as we go to Pakistan after we won the Ashes. They [Pakistan] will be trying to beat us to become the important cricketing nation."

Fletcher has spent a few weeks recuperating after the exhausting Ashes series at home in Cape Town, and joins the squad on October 24. "I have spoken to Michael Vaughan and my coaches and have been monitoring things while in Cape Town. We will now start again. The players will hopefully be refreshed."

Despite the loss of Simon Jones, who was so key to England's success in the summer, Fletcher is confident England has an attack to test Pakistan. Jones underwent surgery to his ankle, which he injured in the fourth Test against Australia, but failed to regain full fitness in time for the tour of Pakistan. He is, however, expected to be available for England's tour of India, early in 2006.

"We had covered all the bases but Simon Jones was so important and is going to be a big loss," Fletcher said. "But [now] it is the chance for someone else to step up to the mark, like James Anderson." England's last series in Pakistan, captained by Nasser Hussain five years ago, was played at a much slower pace than the frenetic Ashes. Fletcher, though, believes his side can maintain the intensity they demonstrated against the Australians: "Every ball meant something, you couldn't miss a ball. It will be difficult to live up to that, but the two sides like to hit the ball and we always try to play positive cricket.

"Their captain [Inzamam-ul-Haq] is an outstanding player, I don't know what they are going to do with [Shoaib] Akhtar, whether he is going to play - he probably will - and they have a very good bowler in [Danish] Kaneria.

"They are fairly balanced and they have got good batters. They are exciting players and it should be an exciting series."

England play two three-day warm-up matches - the first in Rawalpindi on October 31, and another at Lahore on November 5 - ahead of the first Test at Multan, on November 12.