England captain Kevin Pietersen believes Australia would be taking a "backwards step" if they were to call Shane Warne out of retirement in time for next year's Ashes.

Australia have been short of options in the spin department since Warne, Stuart MacGill and Brad Hogg all retired in the last 18 months.

Cameron White played his first two Tests on Australia's current tour of India having only been called into the squad as a late replacement for the uncapped 36-year-old Bryce McGain.

Australia's recent defeat to India in Mohali has led to speculation their dominance could be on the wane.

Warne, whose only cricketing commitment at present is the Indian Premier League, recently said he was fitter than ever and would consider a comeback if the call ever came through from Australia captain Ricky Ponting.

Pietersen said: "I've already had a text from him saying he might play in it next year.

"If he does I think it will be a real backwards step for Australia. If they did decide to pull somebody out it would show how much it did mean to Australia, certainly.

"There is still a long way to go before we play them and there is room for improvement - but they certainly aren't the team they were when we played against them last year. Definitely not.

"They took Test cricket to a new level with the side that they had and absolutely hammered us. They really hurt us.

"But the side that is playing for Australia now is certainly not the one we played against two years ago.

"They don't have Glenn McGrath they don't have Adam Gilchrist they are missing some pretty dangerous players. They are missing Justin Langer at the top of the order."

Warne took 40 wickets in the 2005 Ashes series but Pietersen insists England would not be fazed if he was to pull on the baggy green again.

"To be honest it really doesn't matter if he plays or not. I don't have a problem with it and our guys play Shane pretty well. I enjoy facing Shane," said Pietersen.

Pietersen is currently in Antigua with England's limited overs squad preparing for next Saturday's Stanford Challenge.

England then travel to India and the West Indies before the 2009 Ashes summer gets under way.

Pietersen wants to tackle Australia on the back of successive series victories, as they did with such success in 2005.

"We have a very important next few months," he said.