Steve Harmison backs a seasoned batsman in England’s shaky middle-order

For the first time in the ongoing series, England have found themselves under pressure and criticism has started emerging against Joe Root’s side. The hosts are chasing a daunting target of 521 against India at Trent Bridge, thanks to a poor batting display in their first innings. They have been struggling with their batting for a while now which has made a former player Steve Harmison speak up.

According to the tall fast bowler who played 63 Tests for England, a veteran batsman like Ian Bell could help stabilise the hosts’ fragile-looking middle order. He hasn’t played for his country after being dropped in 2016 and even Kevin Pietersen termed it as a mistake from the selectors the other day. Moreover, with Jonny Bairstow injured and likely to be ruled out of the last two Tests, the problems have compounded for England.

England needs a bit stability

Speaking to ESPNcricinfo on Tuesday Steve Harmison said, “There’s talk of Jonny Bairstow not playing the next Test match because of a broken finger, so then who replaces Jonny Bairstow? There’s talk about Alastair Cook not playing, so there’s already a gap coming there. There’s even talk of Ian Bell coming back into the Test arena at 36, that’s how much England needs a bit of stability in that middle order.

“When you look at it like that, England’s top six batsmen are going to be looking over their shoulders thinking ‘right, I better score some runs here because if I don’t, Ian Bell walks back into the Test arena, gets a hundred, he’ll stay for a while’. Bell has got 8,000 Test runs, so in his eyes, he shouldn’t have been dropped in the first place.”

Bell’s record against India

The right-handed batsman, who has played 118 Tests for England, has an impressive batting record against India with 1,343 runs in 20 matches at an average of 41.96. In the 2011 series against them which England won 4-0, Bell was in scintillating touch and even hit a double hundred besides a ton. He also scored a century against the Indians in the 2014 series.

The batsman averages 51.30 for Warwickshire in the ongoing County Championship with three centuries, including two in the same match. However, he has still not been reconsidered for England even as the selectors tried 13 different middle-order batsmen in the last few years. With Bairstow injured and Bell dictating terms with the bat, it is very much likely that he will find a place in the Test side again.

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