Former England batsman Ian Bell is one of the most stylish batters to have played. Bell was always pleasing to the eye and had a glorious cover drive.
Ian Bell, who was part of the 2010-11 away Ashes victory, played 118 Tests for England, scoring 7727 runs at 42. He hit 22 centuries and 46 fifties in Tests. In ODIs, he amassed 5416 runs at 37, excelling in different roles.
In 2016, Bell was asked to name his all-time cricketing XI; the video of this is uploaded on the YouTube channel of the Lord’s Cricket Ground.
Bell picked two left-handed openers. While Alastair Cook was an obvious choice considering Bell has played a lot with the opener, Bell hailed Graeme Smith as a big run-scorer. At number three, Bell chose to go with Ashes rival captain Ricky Ponting, who he said he admired a lot and was his hero.
“You couldn’t have a world XI probably without him.” Said Ian Bell while announcing Sachin Tendulkar, the God Of Cricket, at number 4 in his line-up. Tendulkar, despite retiring in 2013, still remains the leading Test and ODI run-getter with over 34,000 of those.
To add more charisma in his line-up, Bell opted for Kevin Pietersen at number 5, who he called a “freak” batsman, someone who had his own style of play. The second highest international run-scorer, Kumar Sangakkara, is the wicket-keeper batsman, at number 6, in Ian Bell’s eleven.
Australia’s 2013 Ashes hero, Mitchell Johnson, who tormented the English batters with his high pace and deadly short balls, finds a place in Bell’s eleven at number 7. Johnson can bat aggressively too.
The Warwickshire cricketer then named South African speedster Dale Steyn as one of the four pacers in his line-up. “Exactly the kind of player I want in my team,” Bell said of Steyn, who is South Africa’s leading Test wicket-taker.
Shane Warne, the second-highest international wicket-taker, is the only spinner Bell wants in his all-time team. Bell said he was in awe of how Warne controlled the proceedings on the field.
Bell didn’t have any doubts over the places of Glenn McGrath and James Anderson, two of the greatest pacers to play the game, in his all-time eleven.
Ian Bell’s all-time XI:
Alastair Cook, Graeme Smith, Ricky Ponting, Sachin Tendulkar, Kevin Pietersen, Kumar Sangakkara (wk), Mitchell Johnson, Dale Steyn, Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, James Anderson
Here’s the video:
