Australians to target Pietersen

Australia have revealed their plans for today’s Super Eight clash with England, with captain Ricky Ponting saying his side will target star batsman Kevin Pietersen.

It will be the Australia and England’s first meeting in one-day internationals since England defied all odds earlier in the year, to overcome Australia in the Commonwealth Bank finals, 2-0.

Pietersen who has enjoyed much success over the Australians during the past few years will be the Aussies prime target with Ricky Ponting suggesting a repeat of the CB series, where Pietersen broke a rib charging Glenn McGrath, may occur.

“If he could hit him in the ribs, break his ribs and have him retire that would be lovely,” Ponting told The Age today.

“He comes up in line with his stumps so you can bowl full and wide outside his stumps and not give him a chance to hit the ball or you can attack his stumps, or you can attack him.

“Glenn has been around a long time and he knows how to react when that sort of thing is happening from different players. If he could do that again that would be nice.”

“We’ve seen a few times that he (Pietersen) can be really damaging late in an innings. He has been their most consistent batter in this tournament and we’ll have a few things in place for him.

“They’ve got a lot of good players. Paul Collingwood snuck under our guard a little bit in the last few games at home and Bell has been pretty consistent without getting big scores. We know they can be a dangerous one-day side.”

The Australians are yet to lose a game in this World Cup and are currently leading the Super Eights table. A win today will see them almost certainly advance to the semi-finals. England, however, with one win and two losses will need to create a mighty upset over their arch-rivals to keep their World Cup dream alive.