Kevin Pietersen insists he will not be dragged into a verbal war before the Ashes series begins.

Australia captain Ricky Ponting has already pointed to the former Hampshire man’s lack of form being a concern for England going into the eagerly-anticipated series.

But Pietersen says: "This is my fourth series against Australia. Every single time I have played against Australia, for the months leading up to it a lot of things are said which have absolutely no bearing after the first ball is bowled.

"I am not prepared to get involved. I'm not prepared to add any fuel to any fire that they might have started. I just want to go out and play some really tough, hard cricket and challenge myself against the Australians in Australia.

"I know all the English players are quietly confident that we will do a lot better than we did last time."

England slumped to a 5-0 whitewash in their last Ashes series in Australia in 2007 but they will start the first Test in Brisbane on November 25 knowing that they are in possession of the famous urn, having beaten the Australians 2-1 in England last year.

Before joining up with the England party in Perth this weekend, Pietersen spent four weeks in South Africa attempting to regain his form, while working with his big pal and cricket coach Graham Ford, who he has known since he was seven years old.

They identified a technical problem in his batting as well as working on "mental things".

Pietersen said: "I've had a lovely little break from the international circuit which has been very, very refreshing.

"I took my family down to South Africa for a couple of weeks. I'm really, really excited about what could be one hell of an interesting and positive winter ahead.

"Fordy's been somebody I've worked with throughout my life so it was amazing that I could go and spend two weeks with him and gather back that confidence and that free spirit.

"He knows me as a person. I haven't given a lot away about me as a person here, especially playing for England, but Fordy knows where I'm from, knows everything about me so he can talk to me in a very different way, more than anyone in this country probably apart from my brothers and my parents.

"He picked out one little thing that I haven't been doing in the last six months, since the Caribbean in the World Twenty20 and we worked on that little thing in particular.

"I feel fantastic now. I put myself under a lot of pressure by going to South Africa knowing that every practice session and every hit I had would make headlines in the cricketing world but that's what I wanted to do because I know it's going to benefit me in the long run."