England focus does not extend beyond first hour at Trent Bridge – Anderson

England’s pace spearhead believes the first-Test win at Lord’s, in which his five second-innings wickets were a crucial contribution, was perhaps even a step up on what he and his team-mates achieved in last winter’s historic Ashes series success in Australia.

But as their hopes of usurping India at the top of the International Cricket Council’s Test rankings this summer become more realistic, Anderson warns England cannot afford to get carried away by the hype.

Another victory at Trent Bridge in the second match of four will put them on course to win this npower series 2-0 or better – an outcome that would put England top of the world for the first time since official rankings came into being.

Anderson has great belief in himself and his colleagues, but knows it would be easy to slip up against star-studded and hugely-motivated opponents.

“Lord’s has gone now,” he said. “We enjoyed that last day, enjoyed winning.

“I think in that second innings, to create the pressure we did without the ball doing a great deal – I think a few kept low, but the wicket was still pretty good – was fantastic, and probably up there with Australia if not better than we performed in Australia. But we’re concentrating completely on Friday morning and that first hour here. If we keep playing good cricket and concentrate on the little things that get us there, we hope the end product will be becoming the No 1 team in the world.

“It’s an over-riding goal, but it’s not something we go into each game thinking about.”

Under Andrew Strauss’s captaincy and with Andy Flower as coach, England have discovered and maintained the knack of playing for each other.

“We know we’re playing really, really good cricket at the moment,” added Anderson.

“Everyone’s chipping in – and if we need someone to step up generally someone is doing that, whether it’s Matt (Prior) and Broady [Stuart Broad] in the second innings (at Lord’s) with the bat or Broady with the ball.

“We’re trying to improve each day, as individuals and as a team. If we can do that, we know we can do great things.”

England may have to alter their winning formula, should the “tight” hamstring which stopped Chris Tremlett training at Loughborough yesterday persist or worsen.

They are hoping the Surrey fast bowler will be able to take a full part in practice today, though, and therefore complete a three-man pace attack which will be led by Anderson at a venue for which he has an uncanny liking.

“It’s nice to play at a ground where you’ve had success before,” he said. “But on Friday I won’t be thinking about my past successes; I’ll be thinking about bowling well in this match against that Indian team.”