England Should Call Arthur’s Bluff and Drop Bell
It’s the season of good will and Andys Flower and Strauss could repeat their early Christmas present to South Africa and pick Ian Bell, again.
Playing Bell as a sixth batsman in the Boxing Day Test forces England to play four bowlers, only three of whom are seamers if the in-form Graeme Swann keeps his place.
Given the sweltering heat at Durban and the fitness concerns of all three of the likely seamers, England need another quick. Before the first Test, this blogger plumped for Luke Wright for balance; conservative Flower and Strauss are backing Bell.
Proteas coach Mickey Arthur seems so pleased with England’s selectors’ lack of aggression; he is almost goading them to name an unchanged side.
Arthur told the ECB website: “There’s pressure on [Alastair] Cook and Bell. I wouldn’t expect England to go with five batters and [Matt] Prior at six, given what happened at Centurion.
“I think they’ll play six. But two of those come into the Test under a bit of pressure”
Cook may be suspect outside off but Bell’s first innings dismissal at Centurion was shocking – leaving a ball from Paul Harris pitching off stump which hit middle and off.
Bell had waited for 54 overs and five balls to come to the crease, during which time he must have seen Harris choke Warwickshire teammate Jonathan Trott into just four scoring shots from 36 balls faced.
This was no Bunsen. More than any spinner in world cricket, Left-armer Harris works on the maxim ‘you only have to turn one’ and he waited until after Bell’s sorry leave to produce that, removing Paul Collingwood incidentally.
Simply put, the brainstorm that prompted Bell to shoulder arms should see him dropped.
The Proteas went into the series opener without Dale Steyn and with Jacques Kallis unable to bowl more than half-pace and still sparked an England collapse, when they lost five wickets for 13 runs on the final afternoon.
England need to hit back. They need to be sure they can get 20 wickets. They should call Arthur’s bluff: play six batsmen and include another seamer.
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