Kevin Pietersen believes England has a golden opportunity to strike an early blow in the buildup to the Ashes by defeating Australia in the forthcoming One-Day International series. England, which regained the Ashes on home soil last year, still has plenty of cricket before the first Test in Australia on Nov. 25, with the visit of Pakistan as well as a one-day series against Bangladesh on the horizon. But Pietersen and his England teammates will play Australia five times over the coming weeks and the batsman is confident they can deliver another dent to their rivals morale after beating them recently in the final of the ICC World Twenty20. “It would have been nice only to play them again on Nov. 25 after we beat them in Barbados but if we play the way we played in the Caribbean then we're moving in the right direction,” Pietersen told Sky Sports News. “A lot of our good players and experienced players are coming to the party and we're all dovetailing with each other. If one guy doesn't do well another guy does. The key to beating Australia is for all 11 to dovetail together - or all 12, 13, 14 even 15 if they get an opportunity to come in. “Everyone talks about this word consistency but we've been doing it for a while and we have had some good results in the last 18 months so we want to continue that.” England's recent record in Australia has been poor, with its last Ashes triumph there coming in the 1986-87 tour. With that in mind Pietersen insists it was significant that England's Twenty20 win over the old enemy came not in favorable home conditions but in the Caribbean. “It's a huge boost to beat Australia away from England and it's something we haven't done for a long time,” he said. “They always beat us in Australia and they beat us in the semifinal of the Champions Trophy (in South Africa) too. “Whenever I've played Australia away from home we've never really come up trumps but to win (the World Twenty20) the way we did - I think India was only team we didn't get to beat on the big stage ... that will give us a lot of confidence.” NZ to visit Zimbabwe New Zealand will resume cricket tours to Zimbabwe next year after meetings Tuesday between Zimbabwe Sports Minister David Coltart and his New Zealand counterpart Murray McCully. New Zealand Cricket chief executive Justin Vaughan said the New Zealand cricket team could tour Zimbabwe as early as next year, though a tour by a New Zealand A team could take place earlier.
