Bell falls short as Aussies take the edge > Five.tv
Page
I of2
#{ffi
%
Llnl'ds"tr'slt
FIUEffiW
l{ELLO,
urt
t-&Jh*r*U*r Xr*U
{:,tr#,
ARE FIVE
PRCIGRAMMT$
T I
TV$CHTDULH
CF"IANNfLS r
DEMAN* FIVF
Bell falls short as Aussies take the edge
[. .:
,
a"gl ffi$
By David Smith
England have a mountain to climb after losing five wickets in the evening session to be 307-8 at close. Peter
Siddle was the pick of the Australian bowlers with figures of 4-63, but the truth is that many of the dismissals
were tame. There are few straws for England to clutch to, though offspinner Graeme Swann will have noticed
how dry the surface is and how the bowlers have already roughed it up. Part-time spinner Marcus North
: delivered 14 overs, span it appreciably and was not dominated.
lr
the chance to make a big score before self-destructing, Strauss, Bell and Trott. We
(54),
has held the batting together this summer, for his noncommittal fence outside off
who
forgive
Strauss
flu'can
' 'stump; we can even forgive Jonathan
Trott on debut for leaving his crease gormlessly after making 41 well, crafted runs, and being run out by Simon Katich from short leg, a piece of quick thinking that defined the gulf in
" focus between the sides. Less forgivable, because it was so predictable, was the loose forward push from Bell
\;;(72'S to his first ball after tea which saw the ball canon off an inside edge through a large gap between bat and
SLpad onto his stumps.
{..'iThree England batsmen had
Tii
i:' To understand the problem of Bell we must turn to some words from that moderately successful county cricketer
and most excellent cricket writer Peter Roebuck who analysed his own tormented mindset as a batsman in lt
Never Rains. Roebuck identified with TS Eliot's J Alfred Prufrock, a man so scared of life that he wondered if he
"dare to eat a peach".
Prufrock, Roebuck and Bell are men cast from the same die. They are afraid to take centre stage. They prefer
life lived in the margins in a supporting role. Roebuck quoted the following lines from Eliot's great poem to
describe his mentality as a cricketer; they imply an affinity with support players Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
rather than Hamlet: "No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be/ Am an attendant lord, one that will do/ To
swell a progress, start a scene or two/ Advise the prince; no doubt, an easy tool/ Deferential, glad to be of use/
Politic, cautious, and meticulous/ Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse."
r Roebuck identified with Prufrock's tortured self-analysis, but in truth he had the perfect excuse for being "an
,rattendant lord": He was a good batsman, though not quite good enough for England. Bell has no such excuse.
,'lfHe is a batsman of the highest class; though his forearms are not exactly those of a village blacksmith, such is
::
his timing that defensive pushes can be persuaded to reach the cover boundary.
|,
http ://www. fi ve.fvlpro grammes/sport/cricke t- on-fiv el 325 63
2810912009
Page2 of2
,Bell falls short as Aussies take the edge > Five.tv
..f;
ril
rr
t:
'
,ri
i1i
Bell's problem is that he is temperamentally "an attendant lord". Here was the perfect opportunity to make a
hundred and be a hero, but it is a role he has never occupied for England and is not comfortable with, and so he
self-destructed, pushing tentatively at a ball from Siddle wide of off stump, which bowled him off an inside edge.
A score of 72was good, even commendable, after the barrage of bouncers he survived from Johnson and
Siddle. But it wasn't enough for his team. Bell was the England player in form and in charge on day one, the
batsman with the best chance of making the hundred England needed. lt was his opportunity to silence his
,,, doubters and cement his England place, but he fell short. He now owns a 1Oth fifty at number three and still has
ii' no hundred; he has an eighth fifty against Australia and still no hundred. Sports psychologists would have a field
'day analysing his mentality: They may well place him in the camp of sufferers from "fear of success" rather than
"Tear of failure". This is the Prufrock camp. Kevin Pietersen is the anti-Prufrock. Often accused of selfishness, the
truth is that a large part of his ego craves the adulation of his teammates, which makes him desperate to win for
i.them. Bell lacks such an expansive persona and may never fulfil his god-given talent.
,,,lAs a team, England suffered a similar malaise to Bell on day one. Australia simply stuck to their disciplines and
rt concentrated on controlling the run scoring on a good batting pitch. Johnson tried every variation going and
: totally deceived Prior with a slower ball. But he also bowled plenty of trash and was left out of the attack for much
of the afternoon. Clark, too, posed liftle threat with his deliveries at around 82mph, a speed which is quick
enough at Headingley, but not at The Oval. The 24-year-old Siddle was the most dangerous bowler, sustaining
his pace and energy levels for most of the day. But there was little that England should not have been able to
deal with. Once Bell had got through a hostile spell from Johnson, he and Strauss looked dominant in a century
stand.
q
M
tt
t
Most of the batsmen self-destructed. A Strauss fifty more often than not means a Strauss hundred. His postlunch nibble ended those hopes and his wicket left the question hanging in the air - who on earth will make the
hundred England need now?
Not Bell, who exited with a timid poke; not Collingwood who drove loosely and impatiently at Siddle; not Prior,
Johnson's slow ball; not Trott, run out by Katich from short-leg for 41 well-crafted runs after
.irleaving his crease; not Flintoff, wafting outside off stick and edging.
ti utterly deceived by
tri
I
,:
it
Five Sites
About Five
Contact Us
Digital Media
Production
Gareers
Our Brands
Sales
Demand Five
Five News
Milkshake
Gorporate lnfo
Press
Advertise with us
€t Channel 5 Broadcasting Ltd. 2009
http ://www. fi ve.tvlprogrammes/sporVcricket- on-fw el 325 63
Terms oi
Use I
Terms & Cot
28t09/2009