Reflective and renewed, Ian Bell is ready to solve England's No 3 problem

The list of England number threes in recent years is a lengthy one but after a resurgent season Bell tells Richard Edwards he's open to a return to his former role

Bell is open to a return to the England set-up (AFP/Getty)

Ian Bell is a man who knows a thing or two about the importance of the number three slot.

The Warwickshire man was shunted up to the position at various points during his England career but never truly nailed it down. He’s not alone.

The list of England number threes in recent years is a lengthy one with only Jonathan Trott looking truly at home in a position that has often proved pivotal in the sport’s longest format.

Jonny Bairstow is the latest man to be tried there – following on from the briefest of experiments with Moeen Ali and Ben Stokes.

The flame-haired Yorkshireman wasted no time in laying claim to a more permanent hold on it, scoring a sensational century to provide a platform for England to win the third and final Test of a series that has suddenly made them heavy favourites for next summer’s Ashes.

The Australian attack will make life appreciably harder for Bairstow then but, for now at least, England have at least one answer to who plays in the top three in the West Indies in the new year and beyond.

So what does Bell make of Bairstow’s elevation and the rather chaotic attempts at finding a long-term solution to what had become a perennial problem.

“It’s a critical position but it also doesn’t help if the opening partnership isn’t settled – and that probably hasn’t happened since (Andrew) Strauss and (Alastair) Cook were at the top of the order,” he says.

“To bat at three you need to be mentally strong and be capable of playing both ways, defending when the ball is flying around and then taking the attack to the opposition as well.

“It looks like they’ve made the decision that (Ben) Foakes is going to be the keeper for the foreseeable future.

Bairstow took his chance at No 3 in Colombo (AFP)

“But there’s no doubt that he (Jonny) has got the ability. But there are going to be some tough days as well. That’s going to happen when you’re at the top of the order – you’re going to get some good deliveries and some low scores.

“If he can get his head around that then he has the ability to do it. I’m a big Jonny Bairstow fan but what do I think his best position is? Probably five or six.

"He’s an attacking player and that’s probably his more natural position.

“If you give him a platform then he’s going to score at a good rate. But sometimes as a player you just have to take what’s on offer and he has definitely done that.”

Whether Bairstow can go on from here and secure the position remains to be seen.

England now have a decision on their hands (Getty)

Who knows, a certain Warwickshire player with 118 Test appearances and almost 8000 runs to his name could provide some additional competition when the Aussies touchdown and attempt to win a first series on English soil since 2001.

Bell was overlooked by the selectors last season, despite scoring 1027 runs at an average of 54 in Division Two of the County Championship.

A similar return could see his name thrust forward again in 2019.

“I took a step back last winter and worked really hard physically,” he says. “By the time I got to the New Year I had a hit in the indoor school and just remember hitting the ball so cleanly – probably as well as I had for a long time, and that was really on the back of having a break from the game.

“I brought that into the season. We (Warwickshire) had had a tough year in 2017 and when I reflected on that it give me a real desire to make sure that last year was a really good one.

“That was the nice thing. As a cricketer you get knocked down from time to time.

Bell enjoyed a resurgent season in all three formats (Getty Images)

“I can remember having a conversation with Straussy at the end of the Ashes in 2015 and, at the time, I was offered the winter off.

“I decided not to have that and to go on the Pakistan tour in Dubai. It wasn’t a disaster out there, I think I still averaged something like 35.

"I didn’t want to take the easy option and from the outside, having a winter off might have looked like that.

“Now, I think taking a break from the game might have been the better choice. I look at what I did last year and I think I had a new energy for the game, which was reflected in the way I batted.

“I was very happy playing the kind of cricket that I know I can with Warwickshire and when I play at that level, I know that that’s still good enough to play for England.

“I just need to do that consistently.”

A Test return would be quite some comeback but this is one cricketer determined to show that the bell is yet to toll on his international ambitions.