Is the 3rd Ashes Test the most important ever in Ian Bell's career?
There is no doubt that the English dressing room is as calm as it could have ever been when Ian Bell is batting with the solidity in Test matches that he is renowned for. With his ease and grace, he makes batting look so easy.
But, cricket is a funny game as we all know. The hero of the 2013 Ashes series, who piled up a mammoth 562 runs at an average of 62.44 with three hundreds is going through what has been the toughest phase of his career. Not many would know that, Bell, who without a doubt has scored all around the world, averages the worst among the specialists since the start of 2012.
Poor numbers
Of course, a consideration has been made here, which stands at least 40 innings for qualification. Though, over the period of over three and a half years, a batsmen of his class, averaging 34.69 in the 77 innings that he has played in is a worry, for the fans and more importantly for the team itself.
He has been dismissed for 1(in one of the innings) in each of his last four Tests, which were eventually played in England. As a matter of fact, he is getting out in single digit scores, once every three innings and over 50% for less than 20. This tendency to get out early in the innings has made the English middle order vulnerable.
How much more burden can Joe Root handle? Add to it, Belly is probably going to play at number 3 with the English team already announced. This slot for Bell has not been special when it comes to international cricket, having an average of less than 40 in 38 innings that he has played, he never got a century here until the first 33 innings that he played.
Many including Geoffrey Boycott and Nasser Hussain, have termed this as his last chance possibly, but there is a reason why this could be the best time for him to grab it and discover a new hope for himself for the rest of his career by piling up some runs. Let us look at the same now.
All is not lost
The last time Bell played at his home ground in a Test match was three years back in June, 2013 against the West Indies. The match was drawn due to rain, but he scored an unbeaten 76. He has 3 fifties in the seven innings that he has played over here and averages 43.33 which is pretty much moderate if not great.
Even though he doesn’t have a blazing record at number 3, he bats there for Warwickshire and had a century scored just before the Ashes began. Indian fans would remember Bell and the number three slot for sure, his first hundred at number three was the one where the run-out controversy happened in Trent Bridge. Two games later at the Kia Oval, he hammered the Indian bowlers by making 235.
Ryan Harris has dismissed him five times so far and his retirement should encourage the Englishman. Remember Ishant Sharma or Tim Southee getting his wicket more often than not? That goes without saying that Bell, over the period of last three and a half years has been troubled and dismissed by right arm pace bowling, most of the times early in his innings.
Before this series, he fell prey to Johnson and Starc only thrice collectively in his career. He did score a fifty in the first Test and should take confidence out of that knock. England surely need big runs and ‘big hundreds’ like Cook said after the Lords Test, but they wouldn’t mind a couple of fifties for now to get him back in nick.
That would save his side in the team as there are some good young batsmen who are waiting in the wings to come in. Simply put, if he performs then he stays put, else he can kiss goodbye to his Test career at least on a temporary basis.