WITH all the resolute confidence of a baggy green owner, England's new captain Kevin Pietersen issued some fighting words minutes after his first Test in charge had yielded victory.

"If we play like we played this week, we'll beat Australia," Pietersen said after leading his side to a six-wicket win over South Africa on Monday, despite the Proteas winning the series 2-1.

It's certainly a new approach, bold in respect of the 5-0 drubbing inflicted by Ricky Ponting's side last year. But just as soon as Pietersen had issued this unfamiliar boast, he pinned his hopes of regaining the urn on warriors of a battle past, namely Ashes 2005 chief destroyers Andrew Flintoff and Steve Harmison.

"I am very happy with Fred [Flintoff] batting at six. I am very happy with that attacking option. To play Australia next year I want Flintoff batting six in my team," Pietersen said.

"Steve Harmison is hugely important to the Australia series. I said to Steve, 'I want you to open the bowling, to bowl fast, to bowl straight, to be the old Steve Harmison and as an extra responsibility to get some runs at nine'. He said he would do his best. His best has been good enough this week."

So it's in with the new and … in with the old? That's not a bad thing. Pietersen's infectious enthusiasm, coinciding with timely returns to form of Flintoff and Harmison, is what England can truly base next year's campaign around.

A natural skipper, Pietersen took no time at all to grasp leader lingo, talking about "my players" and "my team" from interview one. Pietersen's bold declaration was received with interest by Tim Nielsen in Brisbane.

"I'm pleased that he is thinking about us already," Australia's no-nonsense coach said. "We've got a couple of big series coming up that are taking up most of our thinking at the moment, but we're certainly very aware that in 12 months time we'll have an Ashes series on the go, and we're very much looking forward to it.

"Without wanting to put too much on paper, I reckon it is interesting that he's coming out and saying that already. There are obviously some things they need to work on. It was a dead rubber and if they want to win the Ashes they've got to win two more Tests than they won in this series, against us in England next year."

It can be safely assumed from Pietersen's comments that the 2006-07 series Down Under had been written off, wiped from the memory banks so as not to instil complexes in "his" players. Rather, the '05 victory will be at the forefront of their thinking come June, particularly because it will be the first time Australia has played there since. Pietersen, only the 25th player and just the fourth Englishman in cricket's history to score a century in his first match as captain, feels something brewing but was careful to keep his feet planted when projecting the remarkable Ashes turnaround.

"It's going to take a lot to do it," he said. "This is a one-off, it's a very exciting stage, but the most important thing is to turn up to every Test match like we did this week. I've been doing a lot of thinking over the last five days, and I've definitely done a bit of thinking about Australia next year. It's about getting the structure right for a long amount of time so the players can feel comfortable and know their role, and deliver. I think that's very important, over the next nine months, for the boys to learn their roles and deliver next year."

The South African-born Pietersen took over Test and one-day captaincy duties from a tearful Michael Vaughan and the struggling Paul Collingwood respectively last week.

"It's been a good fun five days, and I've got a real happy tiredness," the 28-year-old batsman said. "It's about that excitement at the start, but I want to be a guy who talks to the players and they think: 'Yeah, he really, truly wants me to do well here.'

"It's important to have that relationship with your players and your coach where you really want to perform for each other, and you know they'll do anything for you. It's a recipe for success."