Ian Bell (cricketer)

Ian Ronald Bell (born 11 April 1982 in Coventry, West Midlands) is an English cricketer. He plays county cricket for Warwickshire County Cricket Club.

Related Topics:
11 April - 1982 - Coventry - West Midlands - English - Cricket - County cricket - Warwickshire County Cricket Club

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After a single appearance for Warwickshire's second team in late April 1998, Bell's next matches at senior level were with the England Under-19 cricket team on their tour of New Zealand that winter. He made 91 in the first innings of the first "Test", and 115 in the first innings of the third; Dayle Hadlee was moved to declare Bell the best 16-year-old he had ever seen. Bell played in several more Under-19 series, captaining the team at home against Sri Lanka in 2000, in their 2000/01 tour of India, and for the first match at home against West Indies in 2001.

Related Topics:
1998 - England Under-19 cricket team - New Zealand - Dayle Hadlee - Sri Lanka - 2000 - 01 - India - West Indies

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By this time Bell had made his first-class debut, appearing in a single match for the Warwickshire first team in April 1999, but was out for a duck in his only innings and played no further part at that level until 2000/01, when he followed on from his Under-19 matches by playing for England A against the Leeward Islands in the Busta Cup tournament game in Anguilla.

Related Topics:
First-class - 1999 - Duck - England A - Leeward Islands - Busta Cup - Anguilla

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Bell was brought into the full England Test squad to cover for the injured Mark Butcher on the 2001/02 New Zealand tour, but a poor run of form at domestic level - he averaged just 27.49 over the next two English seasons - meant that he had to wait a little longer for his Test match debut. He got his chance in the 2004 series against West Indies, when he made 70 in his only innings. Despite this success, and a domestic season that brought him 1,714 runs at 68.56 including six centuries, Bell was not selected for the tour of South Africa the following winter.

Related Topics:
England Test squad - Mark Butcher - 2001 - 02 - Averaged - Test match - 2004 - South Africa

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In 2005, Bell enjoyed a superb start to the season, scoring 480 first-class runs in April alone to break Graeme Hick's 17-year-old record. He was recalled to the England team for the two-Test series against Bangladesh; England's crushing innings victories in both Tests allowed him only two chances to make an impression, but he grasped the opportunity with both hands. In the first Test at Lord's, Bell made 65 not out, and in the second at Chester-le-Street he scored 162 not out, in the process becoming the first Englishman since Leslie Ames in 1935 to score over 100 runs before lunch in a Test match. This meant that after three Test matches, he had the absurd batting average of 297.

Related Topics:
2005 - Graeme Hick - Bangladesh - Innings victories - Lord's - Chester-le-Street - Leslie Ames - 1935 - Batting average

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For the 2005 Ashes series, three players (Bell, Graham Thorpe and Kevin Pietersen) were in the running for two spots in the team, and Bell and Pietersen were preferred to Thorpe. Bell failed in the first two matches, at Lord's and Edgbaston, but in the third Test at Old Trafford he overcame early struggles against Shane Warne to post a half-century in each innings. However, he only scored six runs in four innings in the fourth and fifth Tests, leaving him with a batting average for the series of only 17.10, by far the lowest of the English batsmen. Despite this, he was included in the 17-man squad for the winter tour of Pakistan.

Related Topics:
Ashes - Graham Thorpe - Kevin Pietersen - Lord's - Edgbaston - Old Trafford - Shane Warne - Innings - Pakistan

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