MELBOURNE: England was blindsided by the intensity of paceman Mitchell Johnson's swing during their third Test defeat to Australia in Perth, but would not be caught out again in Melbourne, batsman Kevin Pietersen warned Wednesday. Johnson ripped apart England's top order in the first innings with a match-turning six wicket haul that propelled Australia to an emphatic 267-run victory that leveled the five-match series at 1-1. “(It) Definitely took us by surprise, for sure, but he bowled well, bowled really, really well, he bowled a really good game of cricket, Pietersen, who was trapped lbw for a duck by Johnson in Perth, told reporters. “Obviously we're going to prepare ourselves for that swinging ball. We knew he was going to swing it, but we didn't think he was going to swing it that much.” “I don't have a relationship with Mitchell Johnson,” Pietersen said, repeating himself when pushed to clarify. Australia's bowlers credited their improved performance at Perth in part to a renewed aggression that saw them exchange heated words with a number of English batsmen amid peppering them with volleys of furious short-pitched bowling. Pietersen denied England had been unsettled by any verbal attacks and said he had heard worse when facing the likes of Australia's Warne and retired paceman Glenn McGrath during England's last Ashes tour four years ago. “I haven't seen or heard anything different to anything that's happened in the first two Test matches let alone last year in England,” he said. “There's not really any big chirpers or big sledgers. It's just England versus Australia, it's an Ashes series. Blokes get a bit of red mist occasionally. “It's historic, it's huge, but there's nothing that's been overboard and if things go overboard, match referees deal with stuff like that.” NZ names preliminary squad New Zealand has named seven players untried in one-day internationals in its preliminary squad of 30 for February's cricket World Cup. The newcomers are Brent Arnel, Doug Bracewell, Dean Brownlie, Adam Milne, Rob Nicol, Luke Woodcock and Reece Young who join a larger group of experienced players. The squad will be reduced to 15 players on Jan. 19. The World Cup will be jointly held in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. New Zealand will play warmup matches against Ireland on Feb. 12 and India on Feb. 16 before its first World Cup match against Kenya at Chennai on Feb. 20. World Cup squad: Brent Arnel, Hamish Bennett, Doug Bracewell, Dean Brownlie, Ian Butler, Grant Elliott, Daniel Flynn, Martin Guptill, Jamie How, James Franklin, Kyle Mills, Adam Milne, Brendon McCullum, Nathan McCullum, Peter McGlashan, Andy McKay, Rob Nicol, Jacob Oram, Jeetan Patel, Jesse Ryder, Tim Southee, Shanan Stewart, Scott Styris, Ross Taylor, Daryl Tuffey, Daniel Vettori, B.J. Watling, Kane Williamson, Luke Woodcock, Reece Young. ICC rejects Salman request Cricket authorities have rejected a plea by Pakistan Test captain Salman Butt to delay a hearing scheduled for next month into a spot-fixing scandal which rocked the sport, the player said Wednesday. The International Cricket Council's anti-corruption tribunal made the decision in a teleconference held by code of conduct commissioner Michael Beloff QC, after the suspended Salman had asked for time to deal with another possible criminal case. “Yes, my request has been rejected,” Salman said without elaborating. Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir, two other players suspended when the scandal broke, had not backed the postponement of the Jan. 6-11 hearing in Qatar which will determine whether the three players are banned or exonerated. The trio were provisionally suspended by the ICC on charges of spot-fixing during Pakistan's Lord's Test against England in August – a charge which carries a maximum life ban, and a minimum of five years, under the ICC code of conduct.
