England will play their own game

England will not try to compensate for the loss of Kevin Pietersen's power in their search for a first win on the tour of Australia.

Tuesday's initial encounter of four with New Zealand in the Commonwealth Bank Series is undoubtedly their best chance of a victory but they must attempt it without the batting of Pietersen, whose bullish 82 was so cruelly halted in the eight-wicket defeat to Australia.

"Obviously with the loss of Kevin we will have to make sure players play their natural game, there is no point in me and Andrew Strauss going out trying to play like Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden, that is not our game," said captain Michael Vaughan. "Our game is totally different and we have to try to make use of the best of what we have got in this squad."

Pietersen will be on his way back to the UK when the contest in Hobart begins and in his absence, Vaughan has warned the batting unit not to attempt to replace the irreplaceable.

"It is never nice when you lose one of your best if not your best player," added Vaughan. "To replace a player like Kevin is going to be very difficult, no team in the world has many players like Kevin Pietersen.

"We were quite happy with our strategy the other night: we got into a position of having Flintoff and Pietersen together in those last 14 overs, which is what we have been trying to do for quite a lot of time.

"With Freddie's injuries and general opportunities that has not been able to happen.

"That was the first time we have been in a position to get our two strongest hitters in a position we wanted them in."

Ed Joyce will slot in at number four with Ravi Bopara, Pietersen's replacement meeting up with the squad in Brisbane later next week.