MATTHEW Hoggard insists England have their sights firmly fixed on beating Pakistan this summer and are not even thinking about this winter's Ashes.

England have failed to win a series since wrestling the Ashes urn from Australia last year, having lost to Pakistan and drawn with India and Sri Lanka.

And with Andrew Flintoff's fight to be fit for the trip Down Under dominating much of the build-up to tomorrow's second Test at Old Trafford, it has been easy to forget England are in the middle of a tough four-match series against one of the best Test teams in the world.

But for Hoggard, the Ashes is not even on his radar yet.

"It's not difficult to block out the Ashes at all," said the paceman. "We have a difficult Test match at Old Trafford, followed very quickly by another one at Headingley. I am a firm believer that you have to perform in every Test match to ensure your place in the next game.

"The Ashes will be a tough trip. They will be pulling out all the stops to beat us at home, but I have to get selected first before I can start thinking about it!"

Injury has demolished England's Ashes-winning side, with Flintoff joining Michael Vaughan, Simon Jones and Ashley Giles on the long-term injury list. And Hoggard, who took 16 wickets in last summer's series, fears the team will never play together again.

Competition

"Hopefully all four are on their way back to recovery," said the 29-year-old. "But the people who have come in for them are not doing a bad job. So there is going to be huge competition for places when they do get fit and competition is good for any team."

Hoggard is set for more work at Old Trafford with the absence of Freddie, but it is a burden he is willing to take.

He said: "We are getting used to Freddie not being with us! Andrew is one of the world's best all-rounders, so if you lose him from any team in the world it would be a big blow.

"It is a massive blow for us, but at least we know he isn't available so we can plan without him, rally round and up our own game to make up for his absence.

"We can go into the second Test with a game plan and with a team we believe is the best to beat Pakistan at Old Trafford.

"You need to up your game to cover the loss of someone, especially when they are a world-class player like Freddie, but it is not a burden. We can win without Freddie, but it will take an awful lot of hard work. We need to start playing consistent cricket, which I think we did at Lord's. In the end I think the wicket was the winner at Lord's, but with our discipline and our batting I think that we showed some real promise."

Hoggard will tonight face questions from England fans in Manchester as part of the ECB's link with Ask.com. The new partner of the England team is bringing cricket closer to the fans through player evenings and a website where they can play Stick Cricket and send in questions to the analyst, Simon Hughes ( www.ask.com/cricket).



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