England at home gives Bell an Edg
WARWICKSHIRE great Ian Bell is set for an England return at Edgbaston after signing up to play in the World Championship of Legends tournament this summer.
Bell, who played 287 times for England in all formats, made his last Test appearance at his home ground during the victorious 2015 Ashes series.
But the 42-year-old will stride out in an England shirt once again after becoming the latest legend to commit to the competition, which runs from July 3-13.
Bell will line up alongside Kevin Pietersen and Ravi Bhopara, among other former stars of England international cricket.
They are set to face the likes of Australia’s Brett Lee, West Indies’ Chris Gayle, Indian all-rounder Yuvraj Singh and Pakistan’s Shahid Afridi in the first Legends competition of its kind.
“It’s been a while since I’ve played for England at Edgbaston,” said Bell. “There’s nothing quite like the buzz of playing for your country at your home ground so to do it again will be very special. There’s no better place to play than Edgbaston, the atmosphere is terrific.
“There are some big names already committed to the competition – guys who pushed the boundaries during their playing days – so I’m looking forward to the challenge.
“It’ll be good fun but, make no mistake, we’ll all want to win. It’ll be a proper competition.”
Another former Bear taking part is South African Imran Tahir, whose five-fer at Lord’s in 2010 helped Warwickshire win the Clydesdale Bank 40 title in 2010.
The competition will see legends teams from England, India, Pakistan, Australia, West Indies and South Africa compete across ten days.
Edgbaston will host five double-header match days from Wednesday, July 3, with the final on Saturday, July 13. Matches will include India v Pakistan and England v Australia, both taking place on Saturday, July 6, with games starting at 1pm and 5pm each day.
The WCL kicks off with a T20 double-header of England v India and Australia v Pakistan. Tickets are now on sale with adult prices starting from under £10 and under-16s £4.