I'll worry about Ashes next year: Nielsen

Sydney: Aussie coach Tim Nielsen wants to concentrate on the series against India, New Zealand and South Africa first before worrying about next year's Ashes series right now.

Reacting to new England skipper Kevin Pietersen's early talks on the Ashes series, Nielsen said he was pleased that the England captain was thinking about them already.

"I'm pleased that he is thinking about us already. We've got a couple of big series, including against India, coming up that are taking up most of our thinking at the moment, but we're certainly very aware that in 12 months we'll have an Ashes series on the go, and we're very much looking forward to it," he told the Aussie media on Wednesday.

Australia have a Test campaign against India in October, New Zealand in November followed by home-and-away contests against South Africa before they head to England. Nielsen felt England, who lost the 2006-07 Ashes 5-0, had a lot to improve before they could compete with Australia.

"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," Nielsen advised.

Pietersen had said after winning his debut Test as captain against South Africa that "if we play like we played this week, we'll beat Australia."

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