Manchester: “This game brings you realism,” Ian Bell says as, sitting on a plastic chair in a bare room at Old Trafford, he reflects thoughtfully on a Test career that is finally flourishing with a sense of lasting gravitas rather than just fleeting majesty.
Bell has always been a sumptuous batsman but it is only now, after successive Ashes Test centuries which were instrumental in England building a 2-0 lead in this series, that there is wider recognition of his ability to instill patience and tenacity into his sublime shot-making.
“There’s no doubt I’ve had my share of lows,” he says with a little smile as he remembers those dispiriting moments when his capacity for losing his wicket just as he appeared established at the crease meant that his name was ridiculed by England supporters.
“If you’re going to be involved in cricket a long time you accept that there are going to be highs and lows but my worst lows came during the early part of my career. I had some good lessons to absorb against world-class players at a young age and they made me a tougher cricketer. They basically made me realise how much I had to improve.”
It is striking that Bell should be so open in addressing his past fallibility. He almost seems to relish talking more about adversity than lingering over his recent form, which has made him only the fourth England batsman, alongside Jack Hobbs, Wally Hammond and Chris Broad, to have scored hundreds in three consecutive Ashes Tests.
When England beat Australia in the fifth Test in Sydney in January 2011, to retain the Ashes, Bell hit 115.
Yet his two centuries this summer have been even more impressive and made him, alongside Jimmy Anderson, the England player who has done most to define the difference between the two teams.
Fighting contributions
Bell has come out to bat at difficult moments, especially when England were reeling at 28 for three after five overs on the opening morning at Lord’s. But his application and concentration have been exemplary and stand in stark contrast to those of Australia’s batsmen, who appear to be using the flawed model of past Bell innings as their template.
Before the third Test, Bell had scored 317 runs in the two Tests of this Investec Ashes series, at an average of 79.25; but, as imposingly, he has been willing to bat for long periods. He has spent over 15 and a half hours facing Australia’s wilting bowlers. In this way Bell has worn down Australia’s strongest weapon their pace attack and given his own bowlers much longer to recuperate.
“We try and give our guys as much rest as they need because it’s tough to get 20 wickets in a match,” he adds. “It’s not just about runs but also taking time at the crease which allows your bowlers to recover. That’s been a factor.”
Bell’s maturity and consistency have been vital and he soon returns to the lack of such attributes in his embryonic career. “I’ve been dropped from the Test team two or three times,” he admits.
“I’ve also been dropped two or three times from the one-day team but it’s how you react to failure that’s most important. If you think back to me being dropped after we were bowled out for 51 against the West Indies [in Andy Flower’s first Test as England coach in 2009] that was a real low.
Team belief
“But I’ve been lucky always to be surrounded by good people at England. Andy Flower and Andrew Strauss sat down with me in Antigua and didn’t make me feel like a scapegoat. They made me feel that they still believed in me and wanted me to go away and work on my game and fight my way back. It was probably the best thing that happened to me because I was young enough to become a better player.
“When you’re on tour and you’re out of the side it’s tough. At nets the guys in the team are always going to bat before you and it’s easy to feel frustrated. But I did a lot of physical work with Reg Dickason [then England’s head of security]. I’d get up at six in the morning to do boxing and physical work with him. Sometimes I didn’t want to do it but toughness comes from doing things you don’t always want to do. I used that time to become physically and mentally stronger and I was ready when I got the chance to get back into the team after Kevin Pietersen was injured during the 2009 Ashes.”
A previous Ashes series, the tumultuous 2005 epic in which Bell played in all five Tests as a nervy newcomer, resonates more strongly. He scored only 171 runs in 10 innings and in the last two Tests he contributed 12 runs in total and even succumbed to the indignity of bagging a pair at The Oval as the rest of the team and the entire country celebrated England finally regaining the Ashes.
Mixed feelings
“I had such mixed feelings,” he concedes. “2005 will always be a special series for everyone because breaking Australia’s dominance, after so long, meant so much. But, personally, there were massive question marks over me. I still have them now as I look back at that series. Was I ready? Mentally? Technically? I’m not sure,” he recalls.
“But I then came up against one of the best teams of all time. In a way I’m glad to have played against them. Not many players in our team now, or even in world cricket, can say they know what it’s like to play against them. Unless you’ve actually been in the middle you just can’t appreciate the intensity of playing against that kind of team. I’d obviously have preferred to face them later in my career and had success against them but that series was a real eye-opener as to what it takes to make it at the highest level of Test cricket.”
— Guardian News & Media Ltd.