Wicketkeeper Brad Haddin said: "We’re one nil down and we’re pretty excited about this Test match.
"We didn’t play the game we wanted to play at Lord’s and we’re really excited about Thursday.
"The mood is very good, we had a very good tour game (against Northamptonshire) and everyone got out of that exactly what they needed, the mood has been pretty high.
"The tour game is over and now we’re all looking forward to getting back into Test match mode and getting into this third Test."
He added: "I think every Test match is important, whether it be one, two, three, four or five.
"But we’re one nil down in the series and we need a better performance than we showed at Lord’s and that’s what we’re excited about.
"We know we can play a lot better cricket than we did at Lord’s so we’ll just have to wait and see."
Haddin added: "I think we’ve been pretty lucky preparation wise, we’ve had a lot of cricket and we got that whole tour game in a couple of days ago.
"So the volume of cricket everyone has had is fine.
"It’s all about sharpening up things, getting ready for the Test match and making sure we’re fresh leading into the Test."
He added: "With Pietersen, you always like to test yourself against the best players and he is one of the best players in the world.
"From the whole series point of view, it’s disappointing to not have a player like Kevin in the series because he brings so much to the game of cricket.
"But from an Australian point of view, it’s pretty good that he’s out. He’s a pretty good player.