England still put Bell through wringer

Ian Bell has been England's nearly man so many times already it's easy to forget he is still a youngster of 22.

Only a Wellington downpour denied him a Test debut as long ago as March 2002 - a washed-out opening day giving Mark Butcher just long enough to complete his recovery.

Then in 2003 Bell was set to face Sri Lanka at Lord's, until the selectors plumped belatedly for John Crawley.

There have been other near misses, too, including for the triangular tournament in June and July.

Now, with England about to name a party of 14 for this summer's remaining one-day international business, Bell's name is ringing out again. But despite being in just about the best form of his career, the Warwickshire right-hander remained a possible, not a probable, ahead of today's announcement.

Much depended on the captain. Although not a selector, Michael Vaughan's views are clearly important - and indeed vital when it comes to where he himself should bat.

The skipper is happily established at No4 in the Test side. So established, in fact, that he must be seriously tempted to give up opening in the one-day game, especially after five failures in as many innings while England were struggling against New Zealand and West Indies.

If Vaughan does drop down to No4, then Bell loses out on an obvious middle-order berth next month against India and in the Champions Trophy.

Then the vacancy would be as Marcus Trescothick's opening partner and the leading candidate would be Vikram Solanki, despite his poor winter.

England's selectors were expected to dally less over the party for the Third Test against West Indies next Thursday.

Taking a second spinner (Gareth Batty) to Old Trafford makes sense, while it seems too early to consider recalling Butcher after his thigh injury.