History beckons for England

Ian Bell wants to be part of something special with a 5-0 NatWest Series whitewash

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England have set their sights on creating history and claiming their first one-day whitewash over major opposition by beating South Africa in the final match of the NatWest Series.

Commanding and impressive performances in the opening four matches have established England as deserved series winners even before tomorrow’s day-night international at the SWALEC Stadium.

But England are hungry to claim a piece of history by completing a 5-0 whitewash which will propel them to number two in the world one-day rankings for the first time since they were introduced and announce them as a team of serious potential.

It would also be only their second one-day whitewash in a five-match series, emulating the identical hammering of Zimbabwe seven years ago, but would be a far more significant achievement against a South Africa side who had won nine successive one-day internationals before the start of the series.

“One thing I always remember (Michael) Vaughan and Duncan Fletcher talking about is being in the England team, there is nothing better than making history as a team and that is what you get remembered for,” enthused opener Ian Bell.

“It’s something we’re all aware of and the fact we can also go to number two in the world makes it a great effort.

“History is something you want to be part of, and winning in Sri Lanka was a little taste of that. Any time you’re involved in something like that is really special and hopefully we can create that in Cardiff.”

England’s only other 5-0 triumph in their history was their 1959 Test series victory over a weak India side, but the prospect of being regarded as the next best team behind in Australia is an equally appetising prospect for the current line-up.

“I think winning 5-0 would be massive,” said Bell, a member of the England side who suffered the indignity of a 5-0 whitewash against Sri Lanka on home soil two years ago.

“Going to number two in the world would be an unbelievable achievement in itself in just one series, but 5-0 would be right up there for me alongside beating Australia in the one-dayers and winning in Sri Lanka.

“They were good wins but we didn’t play consistently good cricket like we’ve done in this series. This series would stand right up there for the way we’ve dominated the whole series in all three disciplines.”

Bell and Prior have formed a significant opening partnership for England during the current campaign

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Bell stressed: “Losing 5-0 is something hard which you have to pick yourself up from.

“I’m sure South Africa will find it hard to do that and coming tomorrow they’ll find it hard being to pick themselves up from being 4-0 down. We’re desperate to win 5-0 and I’m sure everyone will be up for it.”

Bell’s form during this series has been a key factor in England’s success, with the Warwickshire batsman sharing three significant opening stands with Matt Prior in four matches.

Their partnerships of 77, 85 and 101 have helped lay the platform for the bigger hitters in England’s powerful batting line-up to accelerate during the latter stages of the innings.

“When you look down the order and you have a powerful line-up with (Andrew) Flintoff, (Paul) Collingwood and (Luke) Wright in that lower order, it gives you great confidence to back yourself that if you set a platform these guys can clear the ropes at the end,” said Bell.

“It looks as strong a batting line-up that I’ve played in during my time in the England one-day side and it gives you a lot of confidence to go out and play your way knowing you have a lot of good players down the order that can cash in during that last 10 overs.”

But should England continue their remarkable resurgence in the final international match of the summer, they will be facing further pressures as the second best one-day team in the world.

“When we play well we are one of the better teams in international cricket, but what is different this time is that we are backing it up game after game,” added Bell.

“We’ve done it four games on the bounce and this is bringing extra responsibility, but we’re dealing with it and if we do so again then we’ll be showing that we deserve to be in the top three in the rankings.”

England are expected to name an unchanged line-up with all-rounder Flintoff set to recover from the back spasm which prevented him playing golf with the rest of the squad yesterday.