Salman Butt hopes his young Pakistan team can remain grounded following their historic Test victory over Australia.
Skipper urges Pakistan youngsters to stay focused
Pakistan captain Salman Butt hopes his young team can keep their feet firmly on the ground following their historic Test victory over Australia.
Pakistan ended a 15-year wait for a Test win over the Aussies at Headingley on Saturday, sparking jubilant scenes among the Pakistani players.
After the game Butt, who was leading his country for the first time after Shahid Afridi's shock resignation following the first Test defeat at Lord's, was full of praise for what he called a 'new generation' for Pakistan cricket.
But the 25-year-old has warned against complacency as his men prepare to face England in the first of their four-match Test series at Trent Bridge.
Tough times
"I'm going to myself discover what happens," he said. "I can't predict what is going to happen (against England) at the moment , but so far they have done a wonderful job.
"I hope they continue to learn and that this win doesn't get into their heads. We have to work harder because we know we will make mistakes. They are pretty young, they are raw.
"We have to own them when they make mistakes. This is important to build a side. I think we have people we can depend on, but we are not in a hurry.
"We know tough times will come. We know it will not be an easy ride so we have to stick together and try our best. That's all we can do."
There has been talk of Pakistan calling in replacements to ease the pressure on their young players, whose stamina will be put to the test as they play back-to-back series.
Former captain Younus Khan is seen as an ideal candidate to fill the gap in the squad left by Afridi and add some experience to the top order.
Reinforcements
However Butt said they were unlikely to call in reinforcements and would instead look to stick with coach Waqar Younis' policy of promoting youth.
To that end Pakistan could hand debuts to Wahab Riaz and Kuwait-born right-armer Tanvir Ahmed against England.
"The discussion (on a replacement) is yet to take place," he added. "We'll see, maybe we will discuss it but at the moment I think everything is fine.
"We have two or three guys sitting out of the side who we can rely on.
We have a left-arm seamer who bowls at 90 miles per hour at the first change in Wahab Riaz. We also have Tanvir Ahmed who got 90 wickets in the domestic season.
"He's a very good seam bowler. Shane Warne said when he was watching him the other day that he looks like a very good bowler."
