Bell learning to live at the top

Ian Bell will take guard for the first ball of England’s final match of the NatWest Series later today admitting he is still adjusting to life as an opener in the one-day side.

The 26-year-old Warwickshire batsman has spent the majority of his 74 one-day internationals for England batting at number three, but has been installed at the top of the order this summer for the two series against New Zealand and South Africa.

It has been a successful move with Bell building a potentially lasting opening partnership with Matt Prior, the pair forging stands of 77, 85 and 101 in three of the last four matches as England secured a 4-0 lead in the five-match series.

He admits he is still finding his feet in the position despite the recent success of England’s openers, although he is becoming more accustomed to the role as he gains more experience.

Ian Bell would ideally bat at number three in ODIs but is happy to open the innings

“Three would be my favourite spot but if I’m asked to open, I’ll open,” said Bell. “In one-day cricket nowadays there’s not much difference in the top three anyway.

“With Matty we’ve done pretty well and it would be nice to get a run together and keep building on something that started quite nicely and keep getting more of an understanding together of how we both play.

“When you look at (Herschelle) Gibbs and (Graeme) Smith, they’ve played so much together they must have a great understanding of how each other plays in different circumstances.

“Even previously in Test matches when Matt played I think we batted quite nicely together when I was batting at six and he was at seven. Every time we’ve batted together we have got an understanding.

“We’ve played quite a lot of ‘A’ team and under-19s cricket together and if we can keep continuing that understanding and set a platform for the guys lower down the order it’s quite promising.”

The success of their partnership has helped lay the platform for some of England’s bigger hitters like captain Kevin Pietersen, all-rounder Andrew Flintoff, Paul Collingwood and Luke Wright, to accelerate during the latter stages of the innings.

With England also dominating with the ball, South Africa bear little resemblance to the side who won nine one-day internationals in a row leading up to this five-match series, which finishes at the SWALEC Stadium in Cardiff later today.