Thursday 15 January 2015 17:05, UK
England coach Peter Moores admits that giving Ian Bell another chance at the top of the one-day international batting order was not a straightforward decision.
Bell was left out of the side for the last five one-dayers against Sri Lanka before Christmas but captain Alastair Cook was then dropped after a disappointing run of scores.
And, having been selected ahead of Alex Hales as Moeen Ali’s partner for the warm-up games in Australia, Bell now looks on course to open at the World Cup, having smashed an England one-day record 187 against a Prime Minister’s XI on Wednesday.
Speaking ahead of England’s Mid Tri-Series opener against Australia on Friday, Moores said: “It was always going to be a tight decision because Alex is a really good player.
Belly's played in World Cups before, played in big games before. He gets an opportunity first and obviously he's taken it in the warm-up matches.
"We said all along we've got good players so all those decisions are going to be tight and, of course, you always feel for the guy that misses out. But you've got to make a choice and we chose to go with Belly and Moeen.
"We had to pick what we thought was the best opening partnership, Moeen and Belly got that, and the order was picked. We played it in the two games for a reason, to get it settled with a view to playing it on Friday."
Bell has 150 ODI caps and Moores agreed that his experience played a part in his selection, bearing in mind that the hugely promising but less battle-hardened Moeen and James Taylor make up the top three.
"I think you've heard (captain) Eoin Morgan speak about putting that experience figure in the team and Belly is a really good player," said Moores.
"We know we wanted to look at Moeen in Sri Lanka, which we did, and with Alastair moving on that spot became available. So it seemed a good fit, especially with James Taylor at three, to put that experience in there.
"Belly's played in World Cups before, played in big games before. He gets an opportunity first and obviously he's taken it in the warm-up matches.”
Bell has only made three one-day international hundreds so far and Moores says he expects that statistic to change.
"His record over the last two years as an opening batter is very good so he'll want to keep getting better,” he said. “He'll want to score bigger and more significant scores.
"It's not been something that's been a great trait with England batters over the years, compared to some countries, so it's an area we want to get better at."
