Should Ian Bell be in the England Team?

Should Ian Bell be in the England Side?

Going into the Second Test between South Africa and England, much of the media attention was on the selection of Ian Bell. The Warwickshire batsmen has been criticised for not scoring enough runs, and so I used the vast database ofCricInfo.com to see if the condemnation was justified through facts.

Since making his debut in 2004 against the West Indies, Bell has notched up 50 Test caps at an average of 38.90 runs per game. He has a highest score of 199 and has made eight centuries and 21 fifties.

His average is the key stat, and is probably a little short of what itshould be for a top-class middle order batsman. He undoubtedly has talent, but is often criticised of lacking discipline and temperament while batting.

He is currently tenth in the England average chart (minimum 20 innings) for the Noughties, in-between two who have captained their country: Mark Butcher (40.45) and Mike Atherton (36.87)

Bell Burst Onto the Scene With Runs Against the West Indies in '04

Player	Ave
Thorpe	53.30
Pietersen	50.18
Strauss	44.27
Trescothick	43.79
Collingwood	42.83
Cook	42.09
Vaughan	42.02
Prior	41.56
Butcher	40.45
Bell	38.90
Atherton	36.87
Stewart	36.07
Hussain	34.70
Flintoff	32.83
Key	31.00

So know we have a wide sense of Bell’s contribution since 2000, lets narrow it so it focus more on his career and immediate teammates around him.

This table shows England players selected as batsmen/wicket-keepers/all-rounders since the beginning of the 2005 (calendar year).

The chart shows Bell to have the ninth best average over this period, though with his number of caps shows a level of consistency. Jonathan Trott for instance has only played two Tests this year, with great success (average 64.25) to make him an anomaly at the right of the chart.

Bell is above Ashes 2005 heroes Michael Vaughan, Andrew Flintoff and Geraint Jones and also Ravi Bopara, who earlier this year was being hailed as the next great England batsman.

These records do not reflect too badly on Bell. He does not have the average he perhaps ought, but he is there-or-there abouts; has produced over many matches; and is surrounded by names of recent England ‘legends’.

Critics would further argue another batsman could have done a better job from county cricket. This argument is of course valid, but unproven. Who is to say what Mark Ramprakash might have averaged for his country over the last five years or Michael Carberry – but Bell has been wearing the Three Lions and scoring some runs.

However, if we then look at stats for the calendar year 2009, the results are not so kind on the under-pressure batsman.

As is quite clear 2009 has not been a good year for Bell. He has only scored two more runs than opening bowler, James Anderson, and is behind county team mate Trott despite batting five more times. He is also behind all-rounders Stuart Broad and Flintoff – the latter batting in 2009 on one fit leg – as well as off-spinner Graeme Swann.

Statistics are very fragile things, and must be used with great care – there are many comedy sketches which dismiss the use of them as they can be used to prove anything.

This look at Ian Bell does not give any certainty as to whether he should or should not be selected – but gives an extra piece of information for Andy Flower and Andrew Strauss to potentially use.

The beauty of cricket statistics is they do tell a story, but not always the whole story. Bell may have had to go in and hit out to score an extra few runs before a declaration arranged for an hour and given away his wicket for the team; he may have had a few horrible umpiring decisions go against him – none of which are given as an aside in the statistics.