Pietersen primed for Ashes bid
Kevin Pietersen insists England will arrive in Australia "keyed in" for the Ashes despite concerns over collective fitness.
Half-a-dozen players were picked who have been deemed unavailable for selection over the past couple of months, suggesting the selectors have made calculated gambles in the bid to retain the bragging rights in cricket's fiercest rivalry.
However, Pietersen declared: "Our boys will be keyed in. We have got 16 players who have been selected for this trip and they are the best 16 players available to us. It's a case of going out there to do the best we can to make sure that little urn is firmly glued in place at Lord's."
Yorkshire's Matthew Hoggard provided a further scare on Wednesday when he pulled out of Yorkshire's Liverpool Victoria County Championship clash with Nottinghamshire at the last minute with a side strain, which, although it contains no muscle tear, will undergo an MRI scan.
Hoggard, 29, went to hospital for routine checks after injuring himself in the warm-up and they were encouraging.
"This shows there is no muscular tear but Matthew will have an MRI scan tomorrow at 1pm to see if he has a small abdominal strain on his right side," said Headingley physio Scott McAllister.
Captain Andrew Flintoff, Steve Harmison and James Anderson all hope to return from injuries with competitive action at the ICC Champions Trophy next month.
Marcus Trescothick is unavailable there due to a stress-related illness but will hope to be physically and mentally tuned for November's first Test, along with current crocks Ashley Giles and Liam Plunkett, neither of whom are yet bowling at full tilt in the nets.
It was Pietersen's glorious 158 at the Brit Oval a year ago which secured it initially and he is looking forward to raising the bar this winter. He has long targeted becoming the best batsman in the world and going somewhere close to fulfilling that will make England extremely competitive this winter.
"I would love to be," he told BBC Radio Five Live. "That's a major goal I set for myself and if I don't achieve that standard I know I will have tried my hardest to get there. If I go to Australia and don't do well I can't point a finger at myself, I will be doing everything I can to be successful."
