Pietersen happy with solid start

Pietersen hit a determined 69 in over three hours at the crease to help guide England to 336 for seven at the close of the opening day in Cardiff having fought back twice to thwart Australia. But despite losing both all-rounder Andrew Flintoff and wicketkeeper Matt Prior, who shared an 86-run stand off 95 balls, in the final three overs of the day Pietersen believes England have plenty of reasons to approach the rest of the match optimistically.

"The promising thing is that Nathan Hauritz is spinning it off the straight and we've got two spinners (in our line-up)," enthused Pietersen. "On day one to spin it off the straight is pretty interesting."

He added: "Not many Test wickets spin off the straight on day one and the end where (Mitchell) Johnson, (Ben) Hilfenhaus and (Peter) Siddle were following through has certainly roughed and dusted up quite a bit - there's a lot of dust and foot-holes to work with."

Hauritz's promising display will certainly encourage both off-spinner Graeme Swann and left-arm spinner Monty Panesar when Australia begin their reply, but Pietersen believes England are already in a challenging position compared to previous Ashes series.

Four years ago England ended the opening day of the first Test on 92 for seven having dismissed Australia for 190 and two years ago in Brisbane, Ricky Ponting's side reached 346 for three.

"We'd have definitely taken 336 for seven," admitted Pietersen. "In the previous two Ashes series we've played, one successful and one not so successful, Australia dominated the first day.

"I could be greedy and the team could be greedy and say we'd like to be four or five down and maybe myself and Paul Collingwood missed out on opportunities to get a really big score, but the way the last two Ashes series have gone we'll take 336 for seven."

Australian coach Tim Nielsen believes the two late wickets from seamer Peter Siddle in the final stages of the day to remove Flintoff and Prior could prove crucial to the balance of the match.

"There was a pretty critical period around the new ball," said Nielsen. "They scored quickly on both sides of that and then we took two wickets to get their last recognised batsmen out. All in all it was a pretty even day."