SINCE helping England win the Ashes barely six weeks ago Kent cricketer Geraint Jones has ridden open top buses through London and Canterbury, signed books in a Virgin Megastore, paraded the Ashes at The Valley, enjoyed a gala dinner at the house of Lord’s and even found time to move house.

The much travelled England player from Papua New Guinea now finds himself just 60 miles from the epicentre of the Asian earthquake tragedy in Pakistan and preparing for what will undoubtedly be a tough three-Test series.

"It’s been fun and winning The Ashes has opened a few doors, but on the whole I am a quiet character and I won’t be letting it go to my head or run my life," said Kent’s 29-year-old wicketkeeper.

"It was great fun winning the Ashes, but now it’s time to re-focus on winning games for England. I have tried to give myself one busy day then schedule a few rest days, so I’ve managed to have a couple of weeks to myself, so I feel well rested and raring to go again.

"It’s thankfully still the case that I remain fairly anonymous and I can go about my daily business without being mobbed like Andrew Flintoff and Kevin Pietersen are.

"Sure, I have a few well wishers stop me here and there and that’s nice, but I’m not hounded, which means I can come back home to Canterbury, chill out and merge into the scenery a little."

Though Jones has toured Sri Lanka with England, this will be his first taste of the passion for cricket in Pakistan and he hopes to revel in the country’s caldron atmosphere. He admits to enjoying playing in front of big crowds but as yet is unsure of how to approach batting and keeping in Pakistan.

He added: "It’s really not that long since we were playing Australia so it hasn’t taken me a great deal of time to get back to the level of fitness and form in readiness for Pakistan.

"I’ve had several indoor net sessions in Canterbury and an intense two days with the England squad in Loughborough so I’m feeling quite sharp as it is. We have some good preparation time before the first Test so I’m pretty sure I’ll be ready to fire.

"I’m not one for basking in the glory of the Ashes for too long and this is a new challenge and experience that I’m looking forward to.

"I’ve heard that Pakistan pitches are usually fairly true and, as you would expect, they do take spin, but I’m also told they can also be quite slow for batting on.

"That means I’m going to have to take some time to assess the surfaces and see how I can play out here, so I envisage the first week will be taken formulating my game plan for batting.

"Generally on slower, lower wickets you have to be cautious with cross-batted shots which mean I’ll have to be careful with the cut and hook, which are two of my major scoring strokes.

"Keeping wise, as a general rule I’m told the keeper and slips stand a fair bit closer on the slower pitches in Pakistan and I’ll be working on my glovework against spin as we have three spinners in the England party. Again, that’s all part of the challenge of international cricket and it’s a challenge I’m really looking forward to."

In spite of England’s recent Ashes success against the world’s No1 ranked Test side side, Jones refuses to take Pakistan lightly.

He said: "They are a very unpredictable side and that makes them very dangerous opponents. That can work for us or against us I know, but the big key for England will be remaining patient in the field and when batting.

"We know they have good bowling as we’ve faced much of it over here with Rana Naved and Mushtaq Ahmed from Sussex, Danish Kaneria at Essex, Mohammad Sami was at Kent for a time and he may yet be backed up by Shoaib Akhtar, if he gets his fitness back.

"They also have strength in top-order batting and their batsmen may get them off to the occasional racing start, so we will have to keep to the game plan we had against the Aussies and, if Pakistan do make a strong start, we must back ourselves to hit back.

"It may be a case of holding onto our seats at times, but once the wickets do come then I’d back us to take them in batches and bounce back with some style. It should all make for another intriguing series."

* Jones made an inauspicious start to the tour, being dismissed for four in the first innings of the three-day warm-up match against the Patron's XI in Rawlpindi, while his rival for the wicketkeeping position, Matt Prior, playing as a batsman, hit 50 off 63 balls.

England tour itinerary:

November 6-8: Tour match (Bagh-e-Jinnah, Lahore)
November 12-16: First Test (Multan)
November 20-24: Second Test (Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad)
November 29-Dec 3: Third Test (Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore)
December 7: One-day warm-up (Bagh-e-Jinnah, Lahore)
December 10: First ODI (Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore)
December 12: Second ODI (Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore)
December 15: Third ODI (National Stadium, Karachi)
December 19: Fourth ODI (Rawalpindi)
December 21: Fifth ODI (Rawalpindi)
December 22: England team fly home.