Australians Galore As Ian Bell Names 'Toughest Bowlers' He Faced

The traditional Ashes rivalry is one of the most exciting fixture in Test cricket and puts up some fine display on all-round skills on show. England hero Ian Bell has contributed to the fore not only in the Ashes but also in the longest format of the game. Recently, the right-handed batsman picked up the ‘toughest bowlers’ he faced in his successful career and the list was dominated by a couple of Australian cricketers.

Ian Bell featured in 33 Ashes Test. He scored 1983 runs at an average of 35.41 between 2005 to 2015. He hit four centuries and 18 half-centuries in the tournament and often troubled his Australian counter-parts.

Ian Bell: I say Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath together because cricket is all about partnerships

Ian Bell picked up the legendary pair of Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath as the toughest bowlers he faced. Justifying his selection in pair, Bell said, it is because cricket is all about partnerships. Warne and McGrath were two of the finest bowlers across formats in the history of the game. The spin legend picked up 1001 wickets in his career while the fast bowling legend picked up 944 scalps in his career.

“Whenever I am asked this, I say Warne and McGrath together because cricket is all about partnerships,” Ian Bell was quoted as saying by metro.co.uk

“If someone is bowling well at one end but badly at the other, then there is no pressure on the batsman.

Besides the Australian duo, Bell picked up Pakistan spinner Saeed Ajmal as the third toughest bowler he faced. Incidentally, Ajmal had dismissed Bell four times, when Pakistan whitewashed Australia in 2012 in the UAE. He went on to pick up 24 wickets in the three-match series.

“But if I had to pick only one, I would still say Ajmal in the UAE was as hard as it gets. ‘I think he got me out a few times in the nets as well, during my time with Islamabad United,” Ajmal said.

Bell scored over 13000 international runs and also hailed Sri Lanka legend Muttiah Muralitharan as a prolific bowler.