Kevin Pietersen reveals tennis ball trick to prepare for Mitchell Johnson speed in Ashes

Former England batsmen Kevin Pietersen has revealed his unusual preparations for facing Australia bowler Mitchell Johnson during the first Test of the 2013/14 Ashes series in Brisbane.

Pietersen was a key member of the squad that travelled to Australia in November 2013 off the back of a 3-0 win in the summer Ashes that same year, with the two series taking place just three months apart due to re-scheduling linked to the Cricket World Cup.

But despite their one-sided win on home soil, England eventually fell to a famous 5-0 whitewash loss in the series in Australia, with Johnson named player of the series after taking 37 wickets across five Tests.

And though Johnson’s performance across the series has since been lauded as one of the finest fast-bowling performances of all time, Pietersen insisted that he “didn't find it difficult” facing the Aussie legend.

Asked why Mitchell was different in comparison to bowlers such as Brett Lee and Shoaib Akhtar, Pietersen replied: “It’s just short-pitched bowling. He either bowls short or he bowled it full. I didn’t feel intimidated, I didn’t have any issues at all.”

Nevertheless, the South Africa-born batter did admit that he thought Johnson’s bowling appeared “awfully quick” ahead of the first Test at the Gabba in Brisbane, before explaining his unusual preparation for facing the Australian.

“There is a story from Brisbane where, I think [Alastair] Cook and [Michael ] Carberry, they opened the batting, and Mitchell was running and he was flying in, and then Trotty [Jonathan Trott] got out there, and I could see he was really not enjoying it,” he explained.

“I looked at this and I was standing there, sitting there in the dressing room, and I was going, ‘this looks awfully fast.’ It looked like something I probably couldn’t manage.

“So, I took [bowling coach] Mushtaq Ahmed into the indoor nets at the Gabba, while it was all going, and I just disappeared for 10 minutes, and I said to Mushy, ‘find me some tennis balls, wet some tennis balls, and you’re going to stand 10 yards away from me and I want you, in the next three or four minutes, while I’m waiting to bat, to try and kill me. Just literally try and put me out of my misery.’

“And he threw tennis balls that fast – wet tennis balls – that fast at my head, that I walked out to bat after Trott got out, and he bowled me a short one and I stood up on it and I just rode it into the leg side and I was like, ‘this is not even fast.’”

Though somewhat dismissive of Johnson’s pace, Pietersen was bowled by the Australian in the second innings, eventually scoring just 44 runs in the first Test as England slumped to a 381-run loss.

Pietersen was speaking on the Willow Talk podcast, a show co-hosted by former Australian international Brad Haddin, in the build-up to this winter’s series Down Under, which begins on 21 November in Perth and runs until the final Test from 4 January 2026 in Sydney.

Click here to read article