Ian Bell: Time for a change

Good to hear from you Mail. I hope all is well with you. You hit on all of the points I have been making all year long regarding England. If Root and Cook fail, England fail. The rest of the batting lineup has woefully under performed. There are too many black holes.

My playing XI for the third Test would be the same as yours. I understand the rationale behind promoting Mo to open with Cook, the need for getting a second spinner in the side, but there were other ways of doing this. Mo has never opened before and his technique is not suited to opening the batting. Hales should have been Cook's partner for the entire series. It won't happen this Test, but Taylor has to play for Bell. England can't afford to have two out of the first three batsman being automatic outs.

With regards to the keeping situation. Who would have ever thought that Buttler's glove work would be keeping him in the side? The concerns were whether he could improve behind the stumps in order to keep his bat in the line-up. As it turns out, he has made huge strides. Unfortunately, his batting has suffered. He is betwixt and between at the crease. The problem is Bairstow's numbers since being recalled to the side haven't been much better. I would, however, give Buttler a breather. He has had a long year of cricket and by having Bairstow keep wicket, England can get Rash in the side as the second spinner.

It looks as though Buttler will indeed be replaced for the final Test with James Taylor coming into the team and Bairstow taking over the gloves. I think this is ultimately the right decision, although as Buttler is one of my personal favourites to watch, it does sting a little. Hopefully Jos can get some rest and comes back stronger for it.

As expected, Bell will keep his place in the team and Moeen will again partner Cook (providing his groin holds up) at the top.

Nasser Hussain had some pointed comments for Ian Bell in his article for The Daily Mail today. Cook and Root have combined for 53% of England's runs in the series to date. I would have dropped Bell during the summer but the selectors persisted with him. He then made the decision not to retire and so he will almost certainly be in the starting XI for the forthcoming series with South Africa also, putting even more pressure on the middle order to score runs.

www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/cricket/articl...an-Bell-step-up.html

Well Bell is averaging more than a lot of the West Indies batsmen in test cricket but when a team is used to quality batsmen then that is just not good enough.

Over the last 2 years, Bell has averaged 30.00. Of the current top 5 West Indies batsman (Brathwaite, Hope, Bravo, Samuels and Blackwood), only Shai Hope has a lower average and comparing the two is completely unfair - they are on the opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of their career development - Bell is an established veteran, Hope is a 21 year-old with 5 Test matches under his belt.

For further comparison, Bravo has averaged 38.95 batting third, Samuels an average of 32.50 batting at four. Bell's average at three is 33.87 and 28.28 batting at four.

The bell continues to toll for Bell.

It Tolls for Thee !

13.6
Shoaib Malik to Bell, a beauty! On the angle, around the wicket, held its line

and Bell, playing back and expecting it to turn, has his stumps splattered!

Bell b Shoaib Malik DUCK

Watching Bell bat is both painful and frustrating. He clearly is no longer up to Test standards and yet he will almost certainly be in the starting XI against South Africa unless he chooses to retire - which I don't see happening. He made the choice after a tough Ashes series to carry on and would be surprised if he changes his mind.

It's not just his batting that has fell off a cliff - his slip catching has been equally as poor, resulting in being moved out of the slip cordon.

Its the same old, same old from England. No opener for Cook, resulting in the loss of an early wicket, compounded by a walking wicket at three, leaving England two down in the blink of an eye.