IF AUSTRALIA captain Michael Clarke is struggling to find a way to get Kevin Pietersen out cheaply this summer, he could do worse than ask Giorgio Rigali for advice.

Rigali, Goatacre’s minor county seamer, is Down Under playing grade cricket with Fremantle and recently got the chance to bowl at the England squad during their Ashes preparations in Perth.

The experience itself would have been enough for most cricketers to savour, but Rigali took it one step further by getting Pietersen to nick one delivery behind and then had to control his delight after knocking the hard-hitting right-hander’s off stump out of the ground.

All in a day’s work, then, for the Wiltshire paceman, as he explained: “Clubs were asked if their bowlers would help England prepare for the first warm-up game at the WACA, so I went down as a net bowler and met all the squad.

“They all seemed very relaxed and were amazingly friendly and chatty to us. Trott and Anderson just loved having a joke about and they seemed carefree.

“I was fortunate enough to get the opportunity to bowl at KP. He seemed to struggle against all net bowlers. I bowled him a few away swingers and he snicked one, and then I sent the inswinger down and he left it and it cartwheeled his off peg.”

Hardly ideal preparation for facing the likes of Mitchell Johnson and Peter Siddle this winter, you’d have thought. Rigali has other ideas.

“I did my very best to keep the joy inside me and just smiled. He was a genuine, top bloke and had pics and signed stuff for us after,” said Rigali.

“I get the impression that KP doesn't care too much when nobody is watching, but wouldn't be surprised if he peeled off a ton at the Gabba.

“I'm hoping the opportunity will arise before the Test and ODI to bowl at the squad again. It was an incredible experience.”

Away from dismissing international superstars, Rigali is slowly getting a foothold on clublife in Oz.

“There are a few overseas players at the club at the moment, so there is huge competition for places between us,” he said.

”I have started the season in third grade, which is a decent standard, but ideally I want to push for second grade.

“I bowled well early in the season but with little luck until last weekend when I bowled 14 overs and took 6-38. It seems all my luck came at once, which is never a bad thing.

“All I can do is keep plugging away and proving myself and hopefully I will eventually get a gig at the higher grades.”