England will be hoping practice makes perfect for Kevin Pietersen ahead of the serious stuff

Before the 2006-07 series, England played only two three-day matches —including a 14-a-side game against New South Wales — before going into the Ashes and we all know how that series ended.

This time, the planning seems to have been very good. On this tour, they will play three first-class matches against good teams, with the first against Western Australia starting here in Perth tomorrow, and they can't ask for any more than that. If the players fail to make the most of it, it's their fault.

The second first-class match is against South Australia in Adelaide before the final one, against Australia 'A' in Hobart. There is some talk England will not play their strongest team at Hobart but I hope they are not silly enough to do that. They must put out their best team in that match so they can go into Brisbane hard.

If the first-choice bowling attack were rested from that game — as some are suggesting it might be — I would not be at all happy.

Both Andrew Strauss and Andy Flower will breathe a huge sigh of relief if Kevin Pietersen's batting clicks into place during these tour matches. He is the man everyone will be looking at over the next three games, unless he can score a hundred against Western Australia.

If he can do that, it will shut everybody up and take the focus off him. Even in the practice match within the England squad at a club ground on the outskirts of Perth yesterday, Pietersen struggled and was caught at slip early on. Of course, nobody was really watching it but because it was Pietersen, everyone sat up and took a little more notice.

He has looked quite jovial so far and a bit more cheerful than he was. It will be fascinating to see how he comes back from being dropped for the Twenty20 and one-day series against Pakistan in the summer.

The batsmen under pressure are Pietersen, Alastair Cook and Paul Collingwood. If everything goes to plan, they will all score runs in these matches and Ian Bell will replace Eoin Morgan at No6 for the Tests. But these things rarely go to plan and the chances are that at least one of them will struggle. England certainly don't want that man to be Pietersen.

Among the bowlers, Chris Tremlett has a lot to gain from this tour. I hope he performs better than in the practice match but I will look forward to watching him bowling and improving during the next three weeks. He can do well because he has something about him.

Tremlett must take the opportunity that comes his way because otherwise England look a bit thin in their bowling resources, just as Australia do.

At this stage, it is the Achilles heel of both teams, even though England have the major weapon in Graeme Swann. It will be fascinating to see how Australia go during the next three weeks, too.

There will be little tensions among the players, especially where there are places up for grabs, such as the No6 spot. They might all seem chummy in the squad but they all want to play, and that is something the coaching team have to keep an eye on.

A coach will accept that these tensions are there — and it is healthy that they are — but it is important for the players to take a mature approach to it. If a batsman gets nought in one game and his team-mate gets a hundred, he has to accept his team-mate deserves to play next time.

The most important challenge for the management, then, is to make sure everything runs towards Brisbane in a smooth and positive way.

All eyes will be on them there because in my previous five Ashes tours, nearly every England display at the Gabba has been a stinker, so this time they have to go there and play the match of their lives.