Bell insists that time batting against the red ball is still fundamental to the modern player. He emphasizes the value of scoring runs in first-class cricket and how it sets you up, learning how to bat, how to build hundreds, and how to stay out there for multiple sessions.
Have you ever accurately predicted what will happen on a cricket pitch before the ball has been bowled? It's an incredible feeling. That moment when you glance at the field, remember who's on strike and think: Here comes the short ball, only for it to arrive, be pulled and then safely pouched by the fielder you had mentally circled at deep square. For a split second you feel omniscient. Like you've cracked the code.
Rob Key has mentioned it on a couple of occasions, but we've never really got to that position where it's like: OK, what should we do here? If Rob Key called me and said: I want to talk to you properly, then I'll talk to him, definitely. I'm available to have the discussion.
McCullum is believed to have convinced the ECB he remains the right man for the job as a result of performances and attitude shown by the white-ball team in India. England won six of their eight World Cup games and five of six matches on the white-ball tour to Sri Lanka that preceded it, showing fighting spirit to come through tight contests against Pakistan and New Zealand.
