We will be better prepared against Johnson: Pietersen

LONDON - England star batsman Kevin Pietersen Wednesday said his side will be better prepared to take on Australian quickie Mitchell Johnson in the fourth Ashes Test which begins at Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) Sunday.

Johnson’s swing wrecked England batting in the third Test and propelled Australia to an emphatic 267-run victory that levelled the series 1-1.

“(It) Definitely took us by surprise, for sure, but he bowled well, bowled really, really well, he bowled a really good game of cricket,” Pietersen, who was trapped lbw for a duck by Johnson in Perth, was quoted as saying in The Telegraph.

“Obviously we’re going to prepare ourselves for that swinging ball. We knew he was going to swing it, but we didn’t think he was going to swing it that much.”

Australia’s bowlers had credited their performance at Perth to a renewed aggression that saw them exchange heated words with a number of English batsmen besides furious short-pitched bowling.

Pietersen disagreed and said he had heard worse when facing the likes of Australia’s Shane Warne and retired paceman Glenn McGrath during England’s last Ashes tour four years ago.

“I haven’t seen or heard anything different to anything that’s happened in the first two test matches let alone last year in England,” he said. “There’s not really any big chirpers or big sledgers.

“It’s just England versus Australia, it’s an Ashes series. Blokes get a bit of red mist occasionally. It’s historic, it’s huge, but there’s nothing that’s been overboard and if things go overboard, match referees deal with stuff like that.”