'I promise, I can't wait for Boxing Day. It is giving me goosebumps,' says KP

Kevin Pietersen is excited about the MCG, where England can exploit Australia's 'vulnerabilities'

The Second Test in Adelaide and Kevin Pietersen stars with the bat... and also the ball (GETTY IMAGES)

There is a feverish excitement around this city. It is that time of year but right now it is that time of year and then some. Christmas, the Boxing Day Test match, 1-1 in the Ashes series, the teams at each other's throats, all to play for at the MCG, a world record crowd for cricket expected to roll up on the first morning. The sensation is unmistakable and it is everywhere.

Outside a shopping mall on Collins Street yesterday a banner read: "Congratulations to Australia in the Ashes." If nothing else, this reflected the profound relief that Australia had come storming back in the third Test match in Perth and that there are still Ashes to play for. "Come inside and see Justin Langer," it said underneath. Langer is Australia's former opening batsman, current batting coach and has a book out which he is plugging by waspishly shedding doubt on the tourists.

If it is possible, the anticipation here, the oldest and most venerable of Australia's cricketing cities, is greater than that in the few days leading up to the first Test in Brisbane a month ago. Come to think, it knocks it into a cocked hat.

Kevin Pietersen, the England batsman, said yesterday: "I'm 30 years old, and I've played however many Test matches and I promise you right now I cannot wait for Boxing Day. If you're a cricket lover and a cricket player and you get the opportunity to walk out and sing the national anthems at quarter past 10 on Sunday morning and there are 100,000 people watching you – goosebumps."

Our Kev never was one to play things down if they could be played up but for once he was neither exaggerating nor joking. Melbourne Cricket Ground, known simply as the G because that seems to capture its gigantic status, will be a seething cauldron, an entirely different place from the empty, echoing amphitheatre in which England played a tour game a fortnight ago. A television programme, the respected The 7.30 Report on ABC, will pose the question tonight: "Has this series saved Test cricket?"

As the former Chinese premier Chou En-lai once said about the impact of the French Revolution, it is probably too early to say, but it has certainly helped to revitalise a declining form of the game in Australia. They do not like losing in this country but there was a discernible feeling that they were growing tired of winning easily and that Test cricket no longer had what it took.

Pietersen, who followed his career best 227 in Adelaide with a three-ball duck and three in Perth, has clearly been caught up in the emotion and drama of the event. Apart from the fluctuating fortunes reflected by the results the public imagination has also been captured by the ruggedly confrontational approaches of both sides.

England are making light of this, tiptoeing round the issue, but the reason that Jimmy Anderson has been dubbed "sledge-crazed" in some sections of the Aussie press are not all connected with tabloid hyperbole. It is also patently the case that Australia, while never wilting wallflowers on the field, felt they were being out-sledged and outwitted and therefore made a concerted effort to hit back in Perth. But Pietersen, butter failing to melt in his mouth, stood rigidly by the party line.

"The English take is that we didn't hear anything or see anything differently to what normally happens in a Test match," he said. "Having played against Warne and McGrath, the sledging here is non-existent. You haven't seen any huge battles on the field or any proper abuse. No one's said anything to me after they bowled a ball to me."

He also had a fascinating view on the Australians' increased verbal barrage, which, who knows, may cast a whole new light on their sporting culture. Far from upping the ante to weaken England it merely demonstrated their fallibility. "I don't feel intimidated by the Australians," he said. "I think when you're under extreme amounts of pressure, you talk a lot more. And the good thing about our team is, we're on a plateau. We do what we do. We had a hiccup last week. Yes, we were constructive in the criticism that we chucked around the team meeting about preparation and whatever.

"But we haven't come out and made any bold, huge statements about this and about that. We understand that they are very vulnerable – there are a lot of areas in their team that are very vulnerable. And we just need to do what we do and wipe the slate clean and forget Perth. Think about Adelaide – think about how well we did there, and how well we did in Brisbane. We're absolutely fine."

So, that is why the Aussies have been going around for most of the last century and a half verbally duffing up their opponents. It is because they are feeling the heat. It seems to have worked for a goodly part of history, however, and the Australian press was full of the sort of stuff yesterday which suggested they had regained their manhood.

After the thumping England win in Adelaide – and how far away that seems for now – Pietersen famously went for a drive in a borrowed bright yellow Lamborghini and was caught for speeding on the Great Ocean Road outside Melbourne. This was seen either as KP giving it large after a return to form or King Kev back to his old self at last.

"I got offered the opportunity to drive a yellow car and as any 30-year-old man would do, I said yep," he said. "And I went for a drive and unfortunately got caught 5-6 mph over the speed limit, which I'm not proud about, but I wasn't reckless. I thought the speed limit was 110 and, to be honest, I hardly even had my foot on the accelerator. I was being overtaken by trucks. Can you imagine that? Every cloud has a silver lining.

"I have a fancy car at home. I live in a lovely house. I didn't sell my Ferrari when I got 0, or didn't sell anything else when I did badly over the last 18 months. Why should that affect what I do? If you look at my tweets to Shane Warne, I was always driving that car whether I got 0 or 220. You guys read too much into things. Just let me be. I'm just enjoying my life. We have such amazing lives – just let us live."

England are right in some ways about the sledging. It is a diversion – albeit more significant than they admit, otherwise why do it? – but what matters is Pietersen's form. He still seems extremely at ease about it.

"I've never batted as well as I did in Adelaide," he said. "I feel amazing. Mentally, just the way I'm playing and how I'm able to adjust the gears of my batting. Once I'm going, how I'm able to rein myself in. Whereas before, I'd just play. In Adelaide I did a lot of mental focus and preparation about how to rein myself in – play balls, leave balls, play a lot straighter. Controlling stuff, playing situations, understanding the state of the game. We didn't see it in Perth, but we did it in Adelaide." All of England want to see it at the G.

KP's record v Australia

2005

First Test (Lord's) 57 and 64*

Second Test (Edgbaston) 71 and 20

Third Test (Old Trafford) 21 and 0

Fourth Test (Trent Bridge) 45 and 23

Fifth Test (The Oval) 14 and 158

2006/07

First Test (Brisbane) 16 and 92

Second Test (Adelaide) 158 and 2

Third Test (Perth) 70 and 60*

Fourth Test (Melbourne) 21 and 1

Fifth Test (Sydney) 41 and 29

2009

First Test (Cardiff) 69 and 8

Second Test (Lord's) 32 and 44

2010/11

First Test (Brisbane) 43 and DNB

Second Test (Adelaide) 227

Third Test (Perth) 0 and 3

Pietersen's Test average

Overall 48.51

Against Australia 53.37