The dangerous hitting of Kevin Pietersen looms as the only problem confronting Australia before the second Ashes Test against England at Edgbaston, starting Thursday.

The world champions will stick with the same bowling attack that swept it to a 1-0 series lead at Lord's last week, after Jason Gillespie confirmed his place with an ominous performance with the ball against Worcestershire.

With the attack settled and with England close to adopting a siege mentality against the local press in the fall-out from the first Test loss, the fearless batting of England's new poster boy could be the biggest hurdle preventing Australia from taking a decisive 2-0 lead in the first of back-to-back Test matches.

The third Test at Old Trafford starts just three days after the scheduled finish at Edgbaston.

Australia's planning is in direct contrast to England's brains trust, who took one look at the wicket and made an immediate SOS for allrounder Paul Collingwood, whose skidding medium pacers might replace the spin of under-siege left-armer Ashley Giles.

Pietersen, who smashed 57 and 64 not out on debut at Lord's, has the confident air of a young man who still thinks he is unbeatable, and Australian captain Ricky Ponting admitted his bowlers were yet to devise a plan for bowling to the England tyro.

"We've got to think 'Right, are we happy with ... starving him of runs early', or should we have a real aggressive go at him early on and make him play a few shots and see if we can get a mistake out of him," Ponting said.

"They're the things we've got to weigh up and we'll talk about that."

Ironically, the fact Pietersen is partly an unknown is why Australia has not yet got his measure.

Just about all the old knowledge stored away from years of Ashes wins worked in Australia's favour the first Test.

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