Ian Bell
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Source: [1], 28 December 2006 |
Ian Ronald Bell MBE (born 11 April 1982 in Coventry, West Midlands) is an England Test cricketer. He also plays county cricket for Warwickshire County Cricket Club.
In the 2006 New Year Honours List, Ian Bell was awarded the MBE for his role in the successful Ashes campaign of 2005 and in November 2006, he was awarded the prestigious Emerging Player of the Year award by the International Cricket Council.
Early career
After a single appearance for Warwickshire's second team in late April 1998, Bell's next matches at senior level were with the England Under-19 cricket team on their tour of New Zealand that winter. He made 91 in the first innings of the first "Test", and 115 in the first innings of the third; Dayle Hadlee was moved to declare Bell the best 16-year-old he had ever seen, and he was often compared with former England captain Michael Atherton. Bell played in several more Under-19 series, captaining the team at home against Sri Lanka in 2000, in their 2000/01 tour of India, and for the first match at home against West Indies in 2001.
By this time Bell had made his first-class debut, appearing in a single match for the Warwickshire first team in April 1999, but was out for a duck in his only innings and played no further part at that level until 2000/01, when he followed on from his Under-19 matches by playing for England A against the Leeward Islands in the Busta Cup tournament game in Anguilla.
Bell was brought into the full England Test squad to cover for the injured Mark Butcher on the 2001/02 New Zealand tour, but a poor run of form at domestic level - he averaged just 27.49 over the next two English seasons - meant that he had to wait a little longer for his Test match debut. He got his chance in the 2004 series against West Indies, when he made 70 in his only innings. Despite this success, and a domestic season that brought him 1,714 runs at 68.56 including six centuries, Bell was not selected for the tour of South Africa the following winter.
2005 - Bangladesh and the Ashes
In 2005, Bell enjoyed a superb start to the season, scoring 480 first-class runs in April alone to break Graeme Hick's 17-year-old record. He was recalled to the England team for the two-Test series against Bangladesh; England's crushing innings victories in both Tests allowed him only two chances to make an impression, but he grasped the opportunity with both hands. In the first Test at Lord's, Bell made 65 not out, and in the second at Chester-le-Street he scored 162 not out, in the process becoming the first Englishman since Leslie Ames in 1935 to score over 100 runs before lunch in a Test match. This meant that after three Test matches, he had the absurd batting average of 297.
For the 2005 Ashes series, three players (Bell, Graham Thorpe and Kevin Pietersen) were in the running for two spots in the team, and Bell and Pietersen were preferred to Thorpe. Bell failed in the first two matches, at Lord's and Edgbaston, but in the third Test at Old Trafford he overcame early struggles against Shane Warne to post a half-century in each innings. However, he only scored six runs in four innings in the fourth and fifth Tests, leaving him with a batting average for the series of only 17.10, by far the lowest of the English batsmen.
2005/6 - Pakistan and India
Despite failing against Australia, he was included in the 17-man squad for the winter tour of Pakistan. There was speculation in the press that he wouldn't be included in the Test team, but when Michael Vaughan was injured before the first Test, Bell got another opportunity. He took it, scoring a century and two half-centuries in the three-match series, and becoming England's top scorer in the series with 313 runs at an average of 52.16. He also took his first Test wicket with his part-time bowling.
This form on the subcontinent continued on February 18, 2006 in England's first warm-up game prior to the Test series against India. Bell top-scored with 78 at the Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai. He couldn't maintain this form into the Test series where, in 6 innings, he only scored 131 runs at an average of just under 22.
2006 - Sri Lanka and Pakistan
After returning from India Bell had an average start to the season with Warwickshire. He was named in the squad of 13 for the first home Test of the summer, against Sri Lanka, but with the return of Marcus Trescothick, coupled with the good form of Paul Collingwood and the emergence of Alastair Cook, Bell was dropped from the starting 11. Bell was selected in the squad for the 5 match ODI series against Sri Lanka, and was one of only a couple of players to come through the series with any credit. As a result of this, and the injury to Andrew Flintoff, Bell was recalled to the Test team for the first Test against Pakistan. After spending most of his career in the top 4, he was asked to bat at 6. In the 4 Test series he scored 375 runs at an average of 93.75.
He scored a century in each of the first three Tests, becoming the first Englishman since Graham Gooch to score a century in three successive Test matches, but missed his chance to make it four in a row after scoring only 9 in the first innings and being 9 not out when the fourth Test unexpectedly finished a day early after the Pakistan ball tampering row. This run of form (100*, 28, 106*, 119, 4, 9, 9*) has given him an overall Test average of almost 48. Given his average against Australia is only 17, his average against all other sides is around 68.
He also played in the ODI series against Pakistan, achieving his two highest scores: 88 at Sophia Gardens and 86* at Trent Bridge, the latter earning him the man-of-the-match award following England's victory.
2006/7 Champions Trophy
In September 2006 Ian was named in the squad for the ICC Champions Trophy in India and also in the squad to tour Australia to attempt to retain the Ashes. In the absence of Marcus Trescothick he was promoted to open the batting for the one day side. In England's 3 matches he scored 97 runs, at an average of 32.33. England lost their first 2 games (to India and Australia) and crashed out of the tournament despite a final group win over, eventual runners-up, West Indies.
2006/7 Ashes
Coming into the Ashes series, with Andrew Flintoff named as captain for the tour and reclaiming his place at 6 in the batting order, this meant that Ian was widely viewed as competing with Alastair Cook and Paul Collingwood for two places in the starting eleven. However, due to Marcus Trescothick returning to England prior to the first Test, Bell, Cook and Collingwood were all named in the starting eleven for the first Test. Ian has, to date, performed solidly in the series, totaling 223 runs at an average of 37.16. Ian has scored a half century in each Test so far but Australia stormed to victory in these matches, regaining The Ashes in the process.
Test Centuries
- 162no vs Bangladesh, Riverside Ground, Chester-le-Street, 2005
- 115 vs Pakistan, Faisalabad, 2005/06
- 100no vs Pakistan, Lord's, 2006
- 106no vs Pakistan, Old Trafford, Manchester, 2006
- 119 vs Pakistan, Headingley, Leeds, 2006
Trivia
- Ian went to school at Princethorpe College and made the 1st XI in year 7.
- His brother Keith, born two years later, plays amateur cricket for Staffordshire, and has also played seven games for the Warwickshire Second XI.