The Mixer

No, this isn’t an article about Anita Ward’s 1979 disco classic, as disappointing as that may be. This is an article about England’s newly re-instated batsman, Ian Bell. A lot of people have written a lot of things about Ian Bell over the last week. Most have them have gone to great lengths to point out that Ian Bell could not be more different than England’s enigmatic genius, Kevin Pietersen. Is he really though? In his own way, Ian Bell is as much of an enigma as KP. True, he’s a different sort of enigma. He’s a sort of quiet, unassuming, understated enigma. He’s a ‘who’s that young chap who’s wandered onto the pitch? is he the mascot? shouldn’t someone take him back to his mum?’ kind of enigma.

I think the main issue is that no-one’s quite sure about Belly yet. We can’t really say for certain whether he’s made of the right stuff. We don’t really know what we’re going to get. With other players, we pretty much know what they’re about. We know what they’re going to give us. Paul Collingwood gives us doggedness, determination and grit. Freddie Flintoff gives us lion-hearted effort and exhilarating pace and power. Andrew Strauss gives us calm reassurance and relentless run-making.

But what does Belly give us? A couple of lovely cover drives and not much else – or at least that seems to be the perception.

It’s strange really, that such a fuss has been made about whether Bell should have been picked or not. Perhaps it shows the relative strength of English cricket in the 21st Century, that a man who’s played 46 tests, scored 8 hundreds and averages over 40 is a contentious pick. England selectors of the 80s and 90s would have bitten your hand off to have the chance to pick Ian Bell ahead of Aftab Habib and Darren Maddy.

But it is true that there are a many unanswered questions about Ian Bell. Is there any substance to go with his undoubted style? Can he come to the party when it really matters? Can he convert pretty 40s into big hundreds? Is his hair ginger or blond? These are all things we need to know before we can take him into our hearts and accept him as one of our chosen men. Now he’s got a chance to answer all these burning questions, starting today at Edgbaston.

There seems to be a feeling that he scores easy runs, that he wilts in the heat of battle. Is that really fair? The man’s scored back to back hundreds against Pakistan. In November 2005, weeks after he was so conspicuously anonymous in the Ashes, he scored a first innings hundred in Faisalabad with England 1-0 down in the series and 400 runs behind in the match. That’s not the innings of a man with no substance.

I think that one of the main reasons for the uncertainty that surrounds Ian Bell is that it is blindingly obvious that he is supremely talented. When Paul Collingwood or Alistair Cook get out, we understand it and accept it because, when all is said and done, they’re not that good. Don’t get me wrong, they’re very very good. But, when we watch them bat, we can see that they’re not perfect. Colly scrabbles around in the crease and plays crab-like shots across the line. The Cookie Monster pokes and prods away from his body and falls over to the off-side. Of course they’re going to get out every now and again – but we can all see that they’re trying really hard not to.

The problem with Bell is that he looks so bloody good. Almost perfect in fact. He invariably gets off the mark with an elegant cover drive. For other batsmen, this would be a sign that they are in great nick, almost certainly on for a big one. That’s just standard for Belly. And that’s why we find it so hard to understand when he gets out. ‘What’s he done that for?!’. We just can’t seem to relate to someone who appears to be that good, but so often doesn’t live up to expectations. It’s almost an insult to our lack of talent that he has it in such abundance and doesn’t make the most of it. The fact remains that, while perhaps not as good as everyone wants or expects him to be, Ian Bell is a very good player, and there is no better candidate to fill Kevin Pietersen’s over-sized boots.

One thing people have neglected to notice in all the furore over injuries to England’s star players, is the evident strength of England’s squad in comparison to Australia’s. Who can Australia bring in if Ricky Ponting gets injured? Certainly not a man with 3000 test runs under his belt. I’ve got a sneaky feeling that if one of their batsmen were to go down injured, the Australian selectors would be wishing they could ring Ian Bell. England may be sweating over the fitness of Andrew Flintoff, but if his brittle, battered body does give out on him before the series is out, England can call upon the services of any number of more than adequate replacements. Harmison, Sidebottom, Panesar, Rashid and Bresnan would give Australia’s first choice attack a run for their money at the moment, if not clean up completely.