Ponting tries new angle for Pietersen

Australia are expected to take an unchanged line-up into tomorrow's second Test but they will carry new plans for Kevin Pietersen, the only batsman to escape them at Lord's. After making two half-centuries on debut, Pietersen, who has delivered more inciteful off-field comments this week, has become the central opposition figure in Australia's team meetings for Edgbaston.

Pietersen was reported in the Courier-Mail as saying Brett Lee "tried to kill him" as the Australians attempted a number of unsuccessful ways to dismiss him during the first Test. "They went for me for two hours outside off stump, then they tried to get me lbw bowling at my legs," Pietersen said in the paper. "Then they went to the bumper theory. Lee tried to kill me and that wasn't nice. I came through it and I gained great heart from that."

Only a brilliant outfield catch by Damien Martyn stopped Pietersen in the first innings and he was unbeaten on 67 in the second. "We've got to have a bit of a look at the way he played in the first Test," Ricky Ponting said in The Age. "We had some plans that we executed well for short periods, but we've got to be able to do it for long periods against him because he scores so freely and hits the ball so hard that he can get away from you pretty quickly."

Ponting said they would try to devise ploys to shut Pietersen down when he arrived at the crease. Australia will rely on the same attack to change tactics despite Michael Kasprowicz's five-wicket haul against Worcestershire. Jason Gillespie, who has generally struggled during the tour, also bowled strongly last weekend and Ponting suggested he would hold his place alongside Lee, Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath.

"[Kasprowicz] has done everything he can do, but in saying that Jason probably did as well," Ponting said. "It's going to be another tough decision come Test-match time, but if you look at the way Jason bowled and the way we performed in the first Test you would probably think it would be unlikely that we would change the team."

While Pietersen remained a focus, Ponting also discussed the predicament of Ashley Giles, the left-arm spinner who complained in his newspaper column of unfair treatment from England supporters. Ponting warned it was a situation Giles was "never going to win". "Some of the points he made were pretty true," Ponting told AAP. "There are a lot of ex-English players out there that have made some comments that would indicate they don't think England can win the Ashes. I'd be disappointed if an ex-Australian player came out and said the same thing."