Panesar credits Pietersen

Panesar's batting is on the up

Monty Panesar has hailed Kevin Pietersen’s influence in helping improve the spinner’s game on the current tour of Australia.

Twenty-four year-old left-arm spinner Panesar has forged an unexpected alliance with Pietersen on tour and has stated how helpful the Hampshire batsman has been.

He has already helped Panesar improve as a batsman, helping him to hit an unbeaten 16 and play his part in a 40-run last wicket partnership with Steve Harmison during the third Test in Perth.

Panesar, though, has revealed how Pietersen has also helped him develop bowling strategies against the attacking Australian batsman.

“He’s always helping me in the nets,” explained Panesar. “He purposely creates a situation where he looks to come after me a little bit or looks to be positive in the same way the Australians play.

“It’s given me good practice and he gives me good advice on how to counteract them coming after me, maybe by varying the pace or changing the angles.

“He’s been a great team player with me, he’s always there to help me. Even when I’m batting he tries to help me out. He can be in the other net and he may see what I’m doing and advise me on my balance or whatever.

“Kevin Pietersen is always there helping us and he’s been a good team man.”

Pietersen is the tourists’ leading scorer with 420 runs and he will be looking to add to his growing reputation in the final Test of the series starting on January 2 as England look to finish on a high despite trailing 4-0.

“I think as a team we haven’t had anything to disrupt our team spirit and in fact we have gelled even more as a team,” claimed Panesar. “There’s a lot of communication in the nets amongst the players.

“We talk a lot and we’re always helping each other out, down to really specific things, trying to get a good understanding between each player with what they are looking for and what they want.

“If I’m working with Kevin Pietersen he tells me exactly where he is looking to hit me and what he is looking to do and what fielding positions I should have.”

England’s main objective over the next week is to avoid being the first side since 1920-21 to suffer an Ashes whitewash by avoiding defeat in the final Test.

They will be looking to repeat their feat of four years ago, when they claimed victory in front of an SCG crowd who had come to salute Steve Waugh as he neared retirement.

Kevin Pietersen the patriot © Getty Images

This time Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath have already confirmed the SCG will be the stage for their final Test appearance and England are determined to ruin their farewell party.

“It’s Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath’s last Test match so that is another incentive to do well against legends of the game, but most importantly we don’t want to go down 5-0,” said Panesar.

“It’s disappointing the way the Ashes have gone, but the mood in the camp is still positive. We are all disappointed but we’re not down and there are a lot of characters in our team.

“One of England’s strengths is we always come back from these sort of situations. As a team we’re still very positive, there is still plenty of energy in the camp and we’re still upbeat about the next game coming up.”

England are yet to make a decision about their final line-up but they may consider playing Panesar alongside Middlesex off-spinner Jamie Dalrymple, who was drafted into the squad when Ashley Giles was forced home to be with his sick wife.

If England do decide to field two spinners it will the first time they have done so in Australia since Eddie Hemmings and Phil Tufnell shared 12 wickets in a drawn match at the SCG in 1991.