When the KFC in Brisbane turns from red to gold and green you know you’re in a battle
ASHES VETERAN IAN BELL WARNS ENGLAND BUT STILL BACKS ROOT’S MEN TO HOLD ON TO THE URN
Ian Bell is among a select band of englishmen who know what it takes to win an ashes in australia. He also has experience of things going spectacularly wrong.
Bell, five times on the victorious side in Test cricket’s most iconic series, would have got a shot at making it six with anything like a decent 2017 season with Warwickshire.
Instead he had what the aussies would call ‘a bit of a shocker’, and so when he tells Sportsmail the key areas to be addressed early on the tour he does so not as a man envious of his peers but as one resigned to his international days being in the past.
The best of those days were in 2010-11 when andrew Strauss’ team produced one of the most dominant away wins in english Test history.
Just as then, england begin their tour next week in Perth. Bell reckons they could not be starting in a better place and this has the potential to be a crucial factor.
‘The nets in Perth are the best in the country,’ he says. ‘ Practising well there will be a key part for our batters — getting used to the extra bounce and the lengths the bowlers tend to bowl in australia.
‘It might hit high on the bat to begin with but it’s amazing how quickly you get used to it. Certainly from playing domestically over there last year, it was a godsend starting there because the further east you go the slower the wickets get. If you can deal with the practice pitches at the WaCa you can cope anywhere in the country.’
Once into the action, Bell believes the two fixtures against Cricket australia XIs in adelaide and Townsville have to be treated like must-win affairs, replicating the policy of seven years ago when Strauss chal-challenged the tourists to defeat Western australia, South australia and australia a rather than the glorified net approach during england’s 2006-07 whitewashing.
But for wet weather in adelaide, they would arguably have achieved it, despite resting their Test attack for the final warm-up game.
‘When we won in 2010-11 we went under the radar a little bit and I sense this team has the same kind of feel,’ Bell says. ‘ not a lot of people are giving them a chance and that means they can go about their business quietly.
‘Our preparation for that series wwas the best I knew for any series I was a part of as an england player. Winning the warm- up games was key. andrew Strauss wanted to put us under pressure. It helped us develop momentum, whereas in 2013-14 people were expecting us to win and we didn’t go through the same processes.’ Fail to prepare, prepare to fail they say. Both mentally and physically. There will be plenty more ashes patter from the australians before november 23, but Bell says england must keep focus when they step on to the team bus. ‘When you drive down the road and over the Captain Cook Bridge in Brisbane, the Gabba comes into your eyeline,’ he explains. ‘ and then you realise “this is it”. I will miss that moment. ‘The KFC down the road turns from red that week to green and gold and you realise you are not just taking on the 11 players on the field — but the whole of australia.
‘There’s going to be a lot of noise, and the chat has already started from the australians. They always seem to feel the need to pump their own tyres up pre-series.
‘But when the first day at the Gabba rolls round that should be gone. all your visualisation of match situations should have taken place and if it has then it’s down to your skills versus theirs. Getting out of Brisbane unscathed would be a huge boost to our prospects.
‘australia are so good there but if we can put together five days of good cricket, and make sure we don’t come away 1-0 down, I can see us winning the series, and whatever happens there the series will be tighter than people think.’
The absence of Ben Stokes appears to have swung the ashes polls heavily in the home team’s favour. Bell, though, is not convinced.
‘australia don’t know who their keeper should be, they don’t know what their bowling line-up is, and despite all the talk the fact is that people like Pat Cummins have never played five games in a row in their lives,’ he adds.
‘While they have four world-class players — David Warner, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood — what about the rest? There’s a lot of question marks.
‘as a young player on either side there’s an opportunity to go down in history and when you look at it like that there is nothing to lose for this young england side. There will be more on australia losing at home than england losing away.
‘The australians will be nervous, even though they like to give offf the impression of being fearless. That’s a massive front.’