Where others lead, Bell follows

Lunchtime in the Test match and well done to Ian Bell for reaching his eighth Test hundred - his third at Lord's - in the morning session. The responsibility is now on him, especially after Collingwood departed early, to turn his lunchtime 118 into something a fair bit bigger, 150 at least.

But... while not wanting to take anything away from Bell, I have noticed a rather odd trend in his career. Each time Bell makes a hundred, someone else has got to three figures earlier in the innings. In this Test, it was Pietersen who milked the appluase last night before Bell made his own hundred. In 2005, when Bell made his first and biggest hundred against Bangladesh, Marcus Trescothick got there first. Later that year, when Bell made 115 at Faisalabad, Pietersen was the first to reach three figures in England's innings despite coming in after Bell.

In summer 2006, Bell made three hundreds against Pakistan, the first coming after Cook and Collingwood had earlier registered tons, the second coming again in the wake of Cook, and the third after Pietersen had made a hundred first. Finally, last summer, he again let Cook and Collingwood take the applause before making his own hundred against West Indies.

Eight innings, eight hundreds and yet on no occasion was Bell the leading man. I just wonder whether he is uncomfortable with the responsibility of setting the game's agenda. Is it just a coincidence that at Old Trafford against West Indies last summer Bell fell for 97, with no other batsman making more than 60? The situation cried out for him to play a big innings and he couldn't.

Sorry, I know this will read like negative carping, rubbing it in for the poor lad after a good knock. But trends, especially 100 per cent trends, do often reveal more than innings on their own.

Comments

[Offspinner]

David Lloyd said prior to his dismissal that no England player had been dismissed for 199, not that no Test player had been dismissed for 199.

[Jagadish]

Actually, I checked on Bell's numbers and as you can see from my post at http://cricket24x7.blogspot.com/2008/07/south-africa-suffer-from-lords-curse.html, there've really been only 3 centuries so far where he's made a difference in terms of coming in when England were in trouble and bailing out his side. The rest of the time, he scored a 100 when his team was like 300/4, etc.

[Len]

You're not the only one to notice. Sky have been mentioning this stat for a while now and I suspect Bell himself is well aware of it.

Bell's a fine player, but until has a decent inning/series against Australia there's always going to be a question mark agin'im I'm afraid.

[Rob]

Patrick, a little harsh perhaps, especially after this knock. Alot has been written about scoring runs when it really matters. When he joined KP at the crease yesterday, England were in a tricky position, 130 odd for 3. Just because KP scored his hundred first should not detract from Bell.

Yes, the jury is still out for Bell, but now is the time to say "well done lad" and hope he has stepped up to the role of a 'senior' international batsman. Fingers crossed.