In-Form Ian Bell Eyeing England Comeback

England’s out-of-favour batsman Ian Bell has said he is contemplating the idea of making a comeback to the England team.

The 36-year old played the last of his 118 Tests against Pakistan in late 2015. However, a highly successful season with Warwickshire and Birmingham Bears has revived his desire of donning the England jersey again. He is averaging a brilliant  55.41 in this County Championship season. The right-handed batsman is currently the second-highest run-scorer in the Vitality Blast with 471 runs at a strike-rate of 144.9.

It is a remarkable turnaround for a player who stood down as Warwickshire captain last year. Now with form on his side, Bell is fancying his chances of making a comeback to the national team. What has further boosted his hopes are England’s unsettled middle-order.

“The questions have started to come a little bit more now, with the form I’ve had through the season and obviously England’s middle order,” he told BBC WM.

“If you asked me that question now I would definitely want to play again. If you’d asked me that 12 months ago, it would have been a different answer.

“Whether it is with Warwickshire, Birmingham Bears or England, I just still want to be winning games of cricket,” he added.

Bell further admitted he went through some tough times last year after being dropped.

“Last year, I wasn’t in a particularly good place,” said Bell. “I’d struggled with the batting and there were some massive questions in my own mind as to whether it was time to retire and I did ask myself those questions.

“It’s been quite a tough adjustment not being an England player any more. But I felt even when I finished with England that I had a lot of cricket left under my belt. I spoke to a lot of ex-players and they all said ‘you’re a long time retired, don’t look back with any regrets’.”

Bell was a constant feature in the England team since returning to the side during the 2009 Ashes until being axed ahead of the South Africa tour in 2015-16.

So far, he has played 118 Tests, 161 ODIs and 8 T20Is, scoring over 13,000 runs.