England Need A Firing Ian Bell This Summer

The fourth morning of the First Investec Test Match against New Zealand was meant to be England launching a fightback as they hoped to leabe New Zealand a final day chase that could see either side take victory. 

That hoped looked to be distinguished with the third ball of the day as Ian Bell chose to chase a wide ball from Tim Southee nicking through to Tom Latham behind the stumps, meaning England will again need to rely on Joe Root and a captains performance to get them out of a hole.

With a new regime seemingly under way at ECB towers and with Jason Gillespie looking increasingly likely to be named the new England Head Coach, the form of their experienced batsman Bell will be a worry for the powers that be and with the Ashes looming they will need a firing Ian Bell of they are to stand any chance of coming away with a victory in the summer.

Since the 2013 Ashes series in England where Bell hit three 100’s in that summer as England took a 3-0 victory, the Warwickshire batsman has hit only two centuries with his last one coming against the West Indies in April as he smashed 143 against an improving West Indies attack. With a fixture of low scores in the remainder of that series and his struggles against New Zealand in the current game, Bell needs to get some form and soon. Granted he got the ball of the game in the first innings as Matt Henry bowled a beauty to nick the bails, for a batsman often described as one of England’s finest, a return to form would be most welcome.

With Gillespie likely to come in as coach too, the England number four will be wanting to impress the Aussie and prolong his test-match career as much as possible and there are those that say the time is now for Bell to retire from the shorter form of the game to prolong his test career. With the Kevin Pietersen saga still lurking in the background too, bell will not want to give any incentive to the controversial batsman, to continue to press for an England recall.

There is no doubt that the class of Ian Bell is still far from leaving his repertoire and he has gone through a barren time in the past only to come out stronger and with fond memories of the last Ashes series in his home country, all eyes will be on the English batsman to come good again and cement his place for a few more years yet. Bell certainly has the skills to change the brand of cricket England look set to employ and along with the exciting Joe Root, both will be hoping to re-invigorate the fortunes of the England cricket team.