15 Facts about Ian Bell - The classical English batsman

Once described by Dayle Hadlee, brother of Sir Richard Hadlee, as the best 16-year old he had ever seen, Ian Bell had been earmarked for greatness long before he was drafted onto the England tour of New Zealand in 2001-02, as cover for the injured Mark Butcher. Technically sound, Bell is an elegant top-order batsman, who has been at his best when his team needs him the most. Having retired from ODI cricket, Bell remains a Test specialist, though, he was overlooked for England’s tour to South Africa in 2015-16.

1. Birth:                                                                          

Ian Ronald Bell was born on11^th April 1982 in the city of Coventry in Warwickshire, England. His family hailed from Dunchurch, near Rugby and he played for the local cricket club as a junior.

2. Interest in cricket as well as football:

Bell was educated at Princethorpe College made the cricket team’s 1st XI in year 7. He also attended Coventry City’s football school of excellence, despite being a supporter of their traditional rivals Aston Villa, and played for Coventry and North Warwickshire Cricket Club.

3. U19 days:

For the England Under-19 team on their tour of New Zealand in 1998, Bell made 91 in the first innings of the first Test, and 115 in the first innings of the third; Dayle Hadlee called Bell “the best 16-year-old I’ve ever seen,” and he was often compared with former England captain Mike 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.

4. Comeback for Warwickshire : 

Appearing in a single match for the Warwickshire first team in September 1999, Bell was out for a duck in his only innings and played no further part at that level until 2000/01. He broke into the Warwickshire first-team in 2001 as he scored 836 runs in 16 innings including three centuries and two scores of 98. His first century, the 130 he made against Oxford UCCE, made him the county’s youngest ever centurion at 19 years and 56 days. He also became the county’s youngest capped player ever when Warwickshire awarded him a county cap on the final day of the season.

5. Test Debut:

Bell finally made his Test debut against West Indies in August 2004, stroking 70 in his only innings, before returning the following summer to lift his career average to an astonishing 297 with two unbeaten innings against Bangladesh, including his maiden Test century at Chester-le-Street.

6. ICC’s Young Player of the Year:

Bell struck three elegant centuries in successive Tests against Pakistan and went to Australia with a new-found belief, having been named ICC’s young player of the year for 2006. He was targeted by the Australian sledging but managed four elegant half-centuries to confirm his status as a Test batsman.

7. Most memorable ODI series:

On 21 August 2007, Bell scored his maiden ODI century in the first of seven one-day matches against India, scoring 126 runs off 118 balls. He went on to score two more fifties in the next two games, including a player-of-the-match 79 at Edgbaston as England took a 2–1 lead in the series. Bell eventually averaged 70.33 for the seven games as England claimed the series 4–3, with a convincing 7 wicket win in the deciding match at Lord’s, and Bell was named Man of the Series.

8. The 2010-11 Ashes:

Bell started off the historic series against the home side Australia well, however, it was not until the 5th Test in Sydney that he could score his first Ashes century after eleven 50s. Bell was one of England’s finest with the bat, and helped to contribute to a 3–1 series victory, England’s first in Australia since Mike Gatting’s men in 1986/87.

9. England FTI Most Valuable Player:

During the 2011 summer, Bell was an integral part of the team that inflicted a 4 – 0 Test whitewash over India, helping England to become the number 1 team in the world and scoring a career best of 235. 2011 was a great year for Bell, having reached a landmark 5,000 career test runs and in 2012, he was voted England FTI Most Valuable Player.

10. Best Test series:

2013 saw Bell’s standing in the game rise even further, hitting centuries in consecutive Tests during the Ashes series. He just missed out on being the first Englishman ever to hit centuries in four consecutive Ashes tests after being bowled for 60. His contribution meant England retained the Ashes in the shortest period since the war and he was rightly awarded the Man of the Series after scoring a remarkable 562 runs.

11. 100th Test cap:

In 2014, Bell won his 100th Test cap for England to become only the 12th man to reach the milestone. Bell joined the likes of Alec Stewart and Ian Botham, winning the cap against Sri Lanka in the summer. Later in the year, he added a domestic title to his trophy cabinet, being part of the Warwickshire Bears side who won the Natwest T20 Blast at Edgbaston, beating Lancashire Lightning.

12. ODI retirement:

Bell kicked off the 2015 season in style, winning his 150th ODI cap and scoring the highest One Day International score for England in history, posting 187 from 145 balls against a Prime Ministers XI in Canberra. After scoring 141 against Australia in the Tri-Series, he surpassed Paul Collingwood’s record of highest ever ODI scorer for England, before deciding to retire from ODI cricket later that year in order to focus solely on Test Cricket. He finished with 5416 runs from 161 matches at an average of 37.87 including 4 tons and 35 fifties.

13. Stats:

Bell has played 118 Test matches scoring 7727 runs at an average of 42.69 including 22 tons and 46 fifties. His career best is 235 against India. His 8 T20Is have produced 188 runs at an average of 26.85 including one fifty that is his top score of 60 not out against New Zealand.

14. 2016 season:

Bell was then chosen to captain Warwickshire for the 2016 season, replacing opener Varun Chopra. He was dropped from the Test team after the series against Pakistan and will be eagerly looking forward to the current season with his county.

15. Captaining MCC:

Current county champions Yorkshire were beaten by four wickets in Abu Dhabi in March 2016 as Bell helped lay the platform for a comfortable MCC win. Bell compiled 66 from 134 balls as the skipper of the MCC side which won the English season-opening four-day match.