IAN BELL: I LIVED A BOYHOOD DREAM
BELL TOLLS FOR AN ASHES ACE
HE scored as many Test hundreds as Sir Geoffrey Boycott and only Lord Botham of Scunthorpe and Wilfred Rhodes can match his five Ashes wins for England.
Ian Bell may be taking his final curtain with fewer fanfares than knights of the realm, noble peers or Yorkshire royalty, but he leaves the stage as one of English cricket’s unsung greats.
Once lampooned by Aussie rival Shane Warne as the ‘ Sherminator’ – after the nerdy high school gigolo in American Pie films – Bell was the prodigy who refused to let his career become a geek tragedy.
By the time he was man of the series in 2013, after unfurling three sublime hundreds at Trent Bridge, Lord’s and Durham, Warne’s Sherminator fall- guy had turned into the Aussies’ Terminator. After 118 Test caps, it is time to bid hasta la vista, Belly.
The 38- year- old leaves the stage as last survivor, on either starting XI, of the unassailable 2005 Ashes drama. He retires from first- class cricket with 7,727 Test runs as a triumph of accumulation. More importantly, most of them were works of art.
“I never took that ‘ Sherminator’ stuff too seriously,” said Bell. “Off the field Warney is great fun, and in the heat of battle he tries to gain every possible advantage with the ball or a sharp one- liner.
“In my experience of playing against Australia, they don’t give you respect automatically. They are not going to rate you just because you are wearing an England shirt – they back off a bit when you take the fight to them and prove you are a good player. In an Ashes Test, you have to stand up and be the man who makes the difference.
“We’ve seen Botham, Fred ( Flintoff), Stokesey ( Ben Stokes) do it as all- rounders, and in 2010- 11 Cookie ( Sir Alastair Cook) scored
766 runs on his own in Australia.
“To be man of the series in 2013 was special. It was my turn to make the difference, my time to put my stamp on the Ashes – and it felt good. My only regret is that I would have liked to dine out on it a bit longer. But we went to Australia a few months later, walked into
Mitchell Johnson letting it go at 95mph and lost 5- 0.”
Bell, who plans to help younger players “groove” their batting techniques as a coach, made his debut against the West Indies at the Oval in 2004. Only James Anderson, Cook and Alec Stewart have played more Tests for England and, like Kevin Pietersen, it was wastefully premature when he was discarded.
But he has no complaints, saying: “As a schoolboy dreamer who went to watch Warwickshire, my ambition was to bat at Edgbaston, so after a century of Test appearances, featuring in five Ashes- winning teams, scoring 22 Test hundreds and winning two county championships, I have lived the dream – and more.”