England veteran batsman Ian Bell seems to have recovered his lost form at home ground in the third Ashes Test, after back to back poor performances in the first two matches. The 33-year-old is wary of Australian comeback and might anticipate a fightback to regain the prestigious Ashes title.
“We fully expect Australia to come back hard, if not harder,” Bell told BBC Radio Live’s Sportsweek programme.
“We have to front up again like we did (at Edgbaston),” he added.
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Below par performances by Bell in the first two tests was an issue of major concern for the English think-tank, but Bell proved his worth in the third game in front of his home crowd at Edgbaston by registering two consecutive fifties, which had a major role in England’s convincing win over Aussies in less than three days.
“When things started to get to that point where people were saying this might be my last Test match, I actually got into a simpler, much better mindset,” he said.
“I was going to go out there and give it absolutely everything and what will be, will be.”
The out of form batsman also said “It’s been really tough. You go in and out of form, and sometimes you don’t know where the next run’s coming from and I honestly did feel like that at times.”
Speaking about the injury of their best bowler James Anderson, Bell said it was always known that they cannot play the whole series with just 11 players. After the impressive performance by seamer Steven Finn who came as a replacement for the injured Mark Wood, Bell is confident the other seamers in the squad will step up to the occasion and deliver when it matters the most.
