Bell determined to take chance

Ian Bell insists he is looking forward to the challenge of deputising for Kevin Pietersen at number four at Edgbaston, while Andrew Flintoff is using NASA technology to aid his knee injury.

Bell ready to seize the moment

Some men fill a room with their aura as soon as they step into it, others seem to shrink when all eyes turn towards them. Kevin Pietersen, who has been ruled out of the rest of the Ashes after undergoing an operation on his Achilles tendon, falls emphatically into the former category. The challenge for Ian Bell, the man who will replace him at No. 4 in Thursday's third Test at Edgbaston, is to prove he does not belong exclusively in the latter.

It's hard to envisage two more contrasting characters in the entire England set-up, and you'd certainly never have imagined either man being earmarked as a like-for-like replacement for the other. But that's how it's set to pan out this summer, with Bell earning his Test recall through Pietersen's misfortune, but deserving it as well on the back of a 60-plus average for Warwickshire in the County Championship.

"I do have a lot to offer to England," said Bell, who has missed each of his country's last eight Test matches since February, the longest period he has spent out of the side since making his debut in 2004. "When you've played and become a regular, and that gets taken away from you, I think that tells you how much it means to you, and how much you miss it. You do a lot of thinking inside about what you want to do when you get that next opportunity. This is an opportunity I probably didn't think I was going to get this summer, and hopefully I'll take it with both hands.

"Of course, with someone like Kev, he's a world-class player and you're going to miss that," he said, "but we know as a batting unit what we have to do to win this Test match. We all have our own sort of tempo, Kev has his methods, I have my methods and strengths, and I have to play to them. I can't go out and play like Kev, I've just got to go out there and think about how I want to score my runs, and make sure we get a good first-innings score."

Aside from the identity of the man he has to replace, the circumstances couldn't really be better for Bell. England have a lead in the series thanks to their historic win at Lord's; Australia's bowlers are low on confidence after a shocking and decisive display in the first innings of that match, and the third Test is taking place at Bell's home ground of Edgbaston, a venue where bat has dominated ball for two seasons solid. In the post-Warne and McGrath era, he has a glorious opportunity to improve upon a ten-match Test record of 502 runs at 25.10 against Australia, which is more than 15 runs below his overall Test average.

"I know that my record against Australia is the weakest out of all the countries I have played, and that's up to me now to turn around," he said. "It's a new-look Australia to the one I've played in the past, and it's up to me now to go out and perform, and contribute to the team by playing well in this Test match. It doesn't worry me what other people think, I just have to get myself ready [because] I know how I can play at my best." It would be quite some development for Bell to emerge as the hero of England's Ashes summer. Four years ago in his first full season of international cricket, he batted once again in that No. 4 position, and struggled to seven single-figure scores in ten Ashes innings. Eighteen months later, his returns improved to the tune of four half-centuries in five Tests, but his image did not, as Shane Warne handed him the geeky nickname of "Shermanator", a taunt that resurfaced in his newspaper column this week.

"Warne's a legend, what more can you say about the guy?" said Bell in response. "I think he's tried to pick on the whole of the England team, and this week it's been my week to cop a bit. I don't have to play against Shane Warne this week, so he can say what he wants, but if I want to get rid of that name tag I have to play well against Australia, and that's fact. I've played well against other teams in the world, and now I have to do it against the 11 guys out there."

Even though the reputation of the bowling attack is several notches lower than Bell has previously experienced in Ashes competition, he's not a character who's likely to get complacent in a hurry. "Warne and McGrath are legends of the game, but this is a good Australia side as they showed at Cardiff," he said. "You can't just walk into a Test match against Australia and do what you want. You have to get stuck in and work hard for everything, and I fully expect that against this team, even though they haven't got Warne and McGrath."

The players within the current Australian set-up are rather more diplomatic in their opinion of Bell than their former team-mate, although Michael Clarke did allude to the possibility that they were rather pleased to have him in their sights rather than Pietersen. "England will be disappointed to lose Kevin," said Clarke. "Any time a very good player is no longer playing it will give the team a boost, but it's important we concentrate on Ian. He is a wonderful player and has been successful around the world. We have to study Ian and look at where he scores his runs. We know he's a good player."

Whatever happens this week, Bell believes he is fighting fit for the challenge, a legacy of the strenuous fitness work he put in during England's tour of the Caribbean in February and March. After being made a scapegoat for England's humiliation at Kingston in the opening Test of the series, Bell did not play again in the series, and instead worked hard with Reg Dickason, the team's security advisor, boxing on the beach at 6 o'clock in the morning, and using a rare break from the front line to work on an area of his game that goes beyond mere batting practice.

"Reg helped me through for two months that could have gone either way," said Bell. "I could have been sitting on my bum not doing a lot, or getting up and making sure that by the time the England season came around I was physically ready to just worry about cricket, and nothing else. By the end of our sessions I'd be on my knees, but Reg was good to me, he wanted to work me hard and by the time the season came around I'd used that opportunity to absolutely nail something that, with the amount of cricket we play, we don't often get that window to do."

The circumstances of Bell's axing in the Caribbean provided a particular spur for his sparring sessions. A loose shot on the stroke of lunch on the fourth day at Sabina Park set in motion a collapse of such dramatic proportions that the game was all over by tea, with England rolled over for an embarrassing 51. "After Jamaica, a Test like that, your last Test, there are a lot of thoughts in there about how you want to carry on. There was a lot of motivation in there for wanting to train hard that winter, so that I could take my opportunity."

Even after the training, Bell still had to wait, and the size of the task he faced to get back in the side was brought home to him on the first day of England's home season against West Indies at Lord's in May, a fixture he had not missed since 2006. "The first time the guys walked out [of the pavilion], watching that on the screen here at Edgbaston, really hit home to me what it means to be involved in a Test match for your country. Because of the game I was playing here, I very quickly had to get that out of my mind, but for [the] first ten minutes I couldn't think of anything else. That told me how much it hurt."

And so it all comes down to the chance he has before him. A clear run through to September is his if he wants it, with Pietersen laid low and few other contenders making their presence known on the county circuit. "At 27, I still have a lot to offer international cricket," said Bell. "I thought I'd have to wait a lot longer to get this opportunity, but this is a chance I've got to go and show people how good a player I am."

WICB-WIPA dispute may be resolved in August

The deadline for brokering a deal in the bitter dispute between the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and the West Indies Players' Association (WIPA) has been set for August. Shridath Ramphal, who has been given the responsibility of mediating negotiations, said it was critically important that an urgent solution was found, so that cricket in the region could return to a state of normalcy.

Following his first meeting with both parties on Sunday, Ramphal said he believed the deadline would be possible to meet as both sides were keen on moving swiftly towards a resolution. "The parties, who were with me together over those many hours, and I share that view that we've got to get on with this quickly," Ramphal told CMC Sports.

"My own timeline - although the meeting hasn't put a time on it - my own personal hope is that we can see this process through within August. By the end of August, this should be a process done and put behind us with a line drawn in the sand and with the future for West Indies cricket and the whole region, and indeed international sport [settled]."

Ramphal, a former commonwealth secretary-general, was appointed to mediate, following a meeting between the WIPA, the WICB and Guyana president Bharrat Jagdeo, who is also chairman of the 15-nation trading bloc Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM), in Georgetown last Tuesday.

The meeting ended the stand-off between WIPA and the board, because of which the first-choice West Indies players refused to play in the ongoing home series against Bangladesh, citing pay and contract issues as their main grievances.

Ramphal also said the issue of West Indies cricket was too important for the mediation process to be treated lightly. "In Guyana, under the agreement that Jagdeo brokered as chairman of CARICOM, they called on the parties to proceed to mediation - in the language of the agreement - with expedition and I can understand why they did that," Ramphal said.

"West Indies cricket cannot afford a long stalemate, which is the situation we are in now. These issues that so trouble the game in the West Indies, trouble the game in the world and I'm sure that England and Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India - they are all looking. At this intimate process and hoping that the West Indies will get its act together and resume its prominent place in world cricket."

The impasse forced the selectors to hastily assemble a makeshift squad for the Bangladesh series and select a largely inexperienced 30-man provisional squad for the Champions Trophy in September. Though the first choice players have subsequently made themselves available, the WICB has opted not to revise the provisional squad.

Bangladesh take series with tight win

Bangladesh 276 for 7 (Shakib 65, Ashraful 64) beat West Indies 274 for 5 (Dowlin 100*, Smith 44) by three wickets

Every time they step on the field, Bangladesh seem to be making history. After having beaten West Indies for the first time in Tests and ODIs, they today sealed their first ODI series win against the hosts. More importantly, this win came by way of their highest successful chase in the limited-overs format, reaching the requisite 275 with six balls to spare.

At the centre of the accomplishment once again was Shakib Al Hasan, pulling West Indies back from a flying start, and then seeing his team through a tricky chase with a calm 65. Mohammad Ashraful, who got to back-to-back fifties for the first time since 2006, set up the Bangladesh reply after the openers struggled on a sluggish pitch that made it difficult to stroke the ball cleanly. The Shakib-Ashraful combination outdid an exceptional effort from Travis Dowlin, whose maiden international century lifted a fledgling West Indies to a fighting total.

Ashraful and Shakib came together after a sensible third-wicket partnership between Ashraful and Raqibul Hasan had ended, thanks to the pressure created by a slow pitch and tight bowling. Nevertheless, they had added 52 after the openers fell in a quick succession.

It was here that Ashraful took the lead, not letting the pressure mount. He first made room and slashed Bernard in the 28th over for the first boundary in 70 balls. When Rawl Lewis replaced Bernard in the next over, Ashraful lofted him over long-off for a six, bringing up his second fifty in three days. Shakib joined him in that charge, sweeping both Lewis and Bernard over midwicket. Those three overs brought Bangladesh 32 runs, and also brought down the asking-rate to less than six.

When Ashraful went for another six off Lewis, he put his team in a tricky state again, holing out to long-off. Until then, his 77-ball 64 had been well-paced, and he had added 74 with Shakib in 63 deliveries. But with 85 still required, Shakib had a major role to play. The boundaries were not easy to come - even Lewis negated the big sweep with googlies and straighter ones - but Shakib ran purposefully. He had to run all but six of his last 50 runs, but hardly did he ever let the scoring-rate fall.

During the match, the cameras panned to a spectator reading a magazine article on Shakib, titled the "Ice Man". Shakib indeed played like one, but needed some luck on his side. With 71 required off 60, Shakib tried to hit Lewis out of the ground, only skying it to land perfectly between cover and long-off, which also resulted in a collision between Darren Sammy and Bernard. That shot also took Shakib to his half-century, kicking off a spell of ordinary cricket from both sides.

With 56 needed off the last eight overs, Shakib called for the batting Powerplay, and Roach immediately threatened to finish the match in a hurry. Even before he could do that, Floyd Reifer almost let him bowl with five fielders outside the circle. Roach started with a half-volley and a fulltoss both hit for boundaries, before bowling his second beamer of the match to be removed from the attack. What's more, Shakib deposited it for a six.

Now it was the Ice Man's turn to falter with the match almost pocketed. He swung across the line to Sammy, getting out with 37 needed off 41. Three wides came in the next two overs before Bangladesh contributed their bit to the chaos. Devon Thomas, the designated wicketkeeper, had to bowl what was left of Roach's overs, and Mahmudullah gifted his second delivery with a leading edge. Riefer brought the fine leg up, Thomas saw two of his straight deliveries being punished and bowled two off-side wides to compensate. Mushfiqur returned the favour by hitting a fulltoss straight to cover. During that surreal period, the only question was which team wanted to lose more badly.

An overthrow here, an edge there, and Bangladesh reached the series win with an outside-edged boundary by Abdur Razzak. During this period of drama, the turnaround earlier in the day was almost forgotten.

For the majority of the first innings, both Dowlin and West Indies seemed to struggle to get the ball off the square against the spinners. West Indies had huffed and puffed their way to 176 for 4 in 40 overs, struggling to combat the grip and the turn. Dowlin's story was no different - he took 88 deliveries to reach his fifty and had trouble with his running between the wickets, too.

But with the Powerplay taken in the 41st over, things changed. Dowlin slog-swept the spinners with vengeance, getting close to the pitch every time, and hitting to long-on, cow corner, midwicket, square leg, et al. By the end of the Powerplay, West Indies had reached 216 for 5, and Dowlin 87 off 105 deliveries. In the next five overs, Dowlin took little time to reach his maiden century, and Lewis and Sammy made sure West Indies finished with 98 runs in their last ten overs. In the end, though, they were to be second-best.