England batsman Ian Bell talks to Sky Sports ahead of the start of a new domestic summer

Ian Bell has vowed to help put English cricket 'back on track' after a winter to forget and is anticipating some 'massive changes' for the national side.

Bell offered up no excuses for England's 5-0 demolition at the hands of Australia and believes he and his team-mates were simply caught playing well below-par, something you cannot get away with Down Under. "The facts state that we weren't good enough, Australia played some outstanding cricket and we were poor - that's the reality really," said Bell. "In the summer it was the total reverse, we won the crunch situations in games, scored 100s and got wickets but everything reversed out in Australia. "My experiences of playing in Australia have now been on both sides and you have to play above your best out there, certainly above average, everyone has to play well and you can't be par. We were below, got hammered and deserved to lose 5-0."

Giles backing

The England and Wales Cricket Board will appoint a full-time successor to Andy Flower as director of cricket in the coming weeks with Ashley Giles currently the frontrunner for the position, despite a winter to forget in temporary charge. Bell has given his backing to his former county and international team-mate, believing the players are to blame for the recent dip in form by England. On Giles, Bell said: "He's a very, very good coach. He's done a fantastic job at Warwickshire - he knows county cricket inside out and he's got massive passion for coaching England. "He's desperate to win, he's desperate for things to move forward and he'd be a really good man to have in charge of English cricket. "It's been a tough winter for all of us and the players have let the coaches down in that regard, we're well-prepared, we've got everything we need as players and at the end of the day we're the ones that cross the line - the coaches can't do anything from that point on."