Ian Bell: England's New Rescue Man

Textbook cover drives, picture perfect square-cuts, breathtaking straight drives and delicate late cuts; Ian Bell was making batting look ridiculously easy.

Intense look, eagle eye, high level of concentration, intelligent stroke play.; Ian Bell was a man on a mission.

Three hundreds centuries at an average of 62.44; Ian Bell became an Ashes hero.

There were questions regarding his place before the start of the series, but he has answered them all in the best possible way; with his bat, which was looking more like a magical wand. Ian Bell scored three centuries in the 5-match Ashes series and all three of them came at the most delicate moments. The ever so stylish Bell bailed-out England from many tricky situations and scored over 500 runs in the series.

Ian Bell batted with utmost responsibility, when the likes of Alistair Cook and Johnathan Trott were struggling to get their runs. Bell rescued England from situations like 50-3 by scoring match winning hundreds. Bell was astute in his shot selection and showed a lot of determination in the middle, which, was missing before the start of the series. His picture perfect drives, cuts, pulls were the highlight of the series and from being someone, who’s place was doubted my many, he emerged as England’s best batsman, by a country mile. Bell was adjudged man of the series and many are saying, this can be a career-defining series for the 31 year-old batsman. Bell has always received praise for his textbook technique, and when in form, Bell can make thick edges towards fine leg look classy.
When it comes to a batsman like Bell, it’s not only about the runs, it also about the mannerisms. He is one of the most elegant looking batsmen and watching him score runs is always a wonderful a sight.

Ian Bell has 20 test hundreds to his name and 4 of them have come in an Ashes series. He has scored 6,425 runs in test cricket at an average of 46.25. These are great numbers and any batsman would be satisfied with a record like this. These numbers clearly demonstrate the fact that, Bell is a quality batsman, but these numbers doesn’t tell us about the criticism Bell has got for his inconsistent nature of batting. Bell has had quite a few bad patches where he has struggled to get his runs. Having said this, Bell is a very hard working cricketer and he’s old-fashioned in his ways- relying on nets to overcome his flaws and not leaving the caged area until he’s feeling the ball nicely on his bat. In a long career, patches come and go, but a technically sound batsman has an edge in overcoming these bad patches. Bell needs put to an end to this criticism and with another Ashes series lined-up in a few months, Bell has a great opportunity to extend his good form and add that missing tag of being a ‘consistent’ performer.