Kevin Pietersen says the fear generated by Mitchell Johnson's ferocious bowling turned him off his food during the first Commonwealth Bank Ashes Test at the Gabba last summer.

And he says the left-armer's hostility led to several of England's tail-enders admitting they were "scared" of facing him.

As the fallout from Pietersen's controversial autobiography continues, the exiled batsman says Johnson's dismissal of Jonathan Trott just before lunch on day two of the first Test was the moment he broke the spirit of the England players.

Photo: An extract from KP's autobiography.

When Johnson struck Trott on the gloves and then had him caught down the leg side fending at a short ball, Pietersen says "a shudder ran through the (England) dressing room".

And Pietersen, playing in his 100th Test, was so shaken by what he saw that he couldn't eat as he waited to enter the arena.

"Lunch? No thanks. I was sitting there, thinking: I could die here in the f**king Gabbattoir," Pietersen wrote of the moments immediately after Trott's dismissal.

Video: Johnson discusses the key moments in his dual with Jonathan Trott.

"How could Trotty, this calm, collected buddy of mine, play like that? Get hit like that? Get out like that?

"I was really worried.

"I had been petrified: if Trotty can get played like that there is no hope for me, because Trotty is normally so calm and cool."

Having pummelled Johnson several times during the 2009 and 2010-11 Ashes series, Pietersen says he was unsure whether the left-armer could live up to the pre-match hype that surrounded him.

Having been shaken by Trott's dismissal, Pietersen says a mid-pitch exchange with Johnson was the moment he knew that the 2013 incarnation of the Aussie firebrand was a different proposition to the one that had been ridiculed by England fans during previous Ashes campaigns.

Photo: Johnson and Pietersen get up close to each other during the Boxing Day Test last year. (Getty Images)

"As I ran past Mitchell Johnson and I said to him, it's me or you, buddy, and believe me, I'm less scared of getting out than you are scared of giving me a lot of runs," Pietersen wrote.

"He looked at me, just stared at me, he didn't say anything back. He kept staring and walked past.

"S**t. S**t. S**t. On so many occasions in the past Johnson has always bit back: shut up, KP, f**k off, shut up, big shot.

"This time he didn't say anything, and immediately I knew he was different.

"I would have preferred him to have said something, to engage with me, but he didn't, and that's when I knew the series could be tough.

"It proved to be extremely tough."

Photo: Graeme Swann tries to evade a Mitch Johnson bouncer during the Commonwealth Bank Ashes series. (Getty Images)

Pietersen says the mustachioed quick didn't even need to have the ball in his hand to send shudders through the England camp during the series, which Australia won 5-0.

"Michael Clarke captained him brilliantly by using him in three-over bursts to keep him fresh throughout the day," he wrote.

"And because he was never tired, the threat of him hung over us like a sword all day long.

"Part of Johnson's deal this time was that he was in our heads even when he wasn't bowling.

"You very seldom hear people in your own team saying that they are physically scared, but our tail-end batsmen were scared.

"I heard (Stuart) Broad, (Jimmy) Anderson and (Graeme) Swann say they were scared.

"When you've got that, you know that a bloke in the other team is doing damage.

"(After the Gabba Test) we were done, then, until the next time.

"My knee was hurting. My pride was dented. Trotty was in shreds. The tail-enders were scared. Cooky was dithering.

"It was clear that Johnson was already a weapon that we had no answer to."

The Fallout So Far

Leaked document unearths 'crimes'?

Strauss reaches out to KP despite fractured relationship

Swann smashes KP's 'work of fiction'

KP unloads on former teammates in book

Big Bash dream could be taken away from KP