Kevin Pietersen has warned England to beware the threat of Australia in this week's opening Ashes Test despite the tourists having lost the nucleus of the line-up which completed a series whitewash the last time the sides met.

The Hampshire batsman has suffered fluctuating fortunes in the two Ashes series he has played in, enjoying England's stunning triumph in 2005 and then being part of the side who slumped to a 5-0 thrashing Down Under in 2006-07.

He said: "This team is going to be weakened but the Australian way is to come out and be fierce, be competitive and be dominant in what they do. They are forceful in their approach and they try and throw a lot of punches early in a Test match and early in a series. It doesn't matter who they put out, it's going to be tough for us to go out there and do the business."

During the 2005 and 2006/07 series' he got used to seeing an Australian team-sheet including names like Justin Langer, Matthew Hayden, Damien Martyn, Adam Gilchrist, Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath who helped them dominate world cricket in all forms for over a decade.

All six of those major figures have now retired, however, and England will face an unfamiliar line-up when the opening Test in Cardiff begins on Wednesday.

It is a situation which has persuaded some judges to back England to win the series comfortably, but Pietersen believes they would be best served to be wary of their opponents.

"Any team that loses Warne, McGrath, Hayden, Langer, Gilchrist and Martyn are not going to be as strong because those guys are as close to legends of the game as you can possibly get and some of them are legends of the game," explained Pietersen.

"We can't talk about who they don't have or who they have got because when those guys pull on that baggy green cap, which is so historic to them, they are a fierce, fierce side - three months ago they beat South Africa in South Africa so this team is a good team."