Filed under: Cricket, England Cricket, Tests
England's Ian Bell has broken into the top five of the ICC Test rankings thanks to his sublime 159 against India at Trent Bridge.He may well have admitted to being a little stupid for the run-out that never was during the second innings - but one issue which cannot have too many areas of doubt is that he is currently in the form of his life.
After years of being around the fringes and failing to translate his obvious talents into big international runs, Bell is now arguably England's most technically gifted and naturally elegant performer with the bat.
He has proved he belongs. He is no longer in the shadows of Kevin Pietersen and Alastair Cook.
Bell's brilliance, which laid the foundation for England's emphatic 319-run win over the hapless and seemingly gutless tourists, was his fourth century in the space of six Tests.
The fact he did it for the first time batting at number three, in such a difficult match situation, will finally lay to rest the theory that he is only capable of big runs when England are already well on top in the game.
The result of his impressive performance at Trent Bridge means he has recorded a new career-high rating and is now only 16 points behind his Warwickshire and England team mate Jonathan Trott.
And it is interesting that it is Trott he should have over-taken with doubts about the fitness of his county colleague ahead of the third Test on their home ground at Edgbaston.
Trott has slipped two places down to four and, more importantly, his slip in the field, which damaged his shoulder and makes him a doubt for what could be the series-clincher in Birmingham, leaves him and the England think-tank in a difficult spot.
If Bell has to remain at three because the scans on Trott's injury mean he will not recover in time to re-take his place in the side, it will pose further questions about the long-term wisdom of keeping Bell away from what is arguably his ideal position in the batting order, at the fall of the first wicket.
Bell has made no noises about wanting to step up the order, but maybe that would be different if Trott was not his county colleague and the current occupant of the role.
For all Trott's excellent performances since he came into Test cricket, Bell has a weight of argument on his side to claim number three and given the welter of players queueing up to break into what could soon be the number one side in Test cricket, this is not a good time for anyone to drop out of the team.
The same can be said for Chris Tremlett, who missed out with injury at Trent Bridge and had to watch Tim Bresnan smash 90 with the bat and rip the heart out of India's batting with his first five-wicket haul in Test cricket.
As a result, Bresnan has risen 14 places in the bowling rankings and 13th in the all-rounder standings. Can he be left out for Edgbaston on the back of that kind of performance?
Stuart Broad's all-round heroics have seen him climb to third in the all-rounder rankings, while he has also jumped to seventh place in the bowling table following match figures of 8-76. He cannot be left out either, surely.
They are nice problems for team director Andy Flower and he will not shirk them.
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