I.Ron Bell puts overs into Aussie legs

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Ian Bell - almost as good as Ashton Agar on current form

Maybe we should consider him two different batsmen – Ian Bell, the guy who chips one to cover, and I.Ron Bell, the guy who plays these sorts of innings. (Make your own metallurgical puns. We had a look at the iron Wikipedia page with a view to coming up with some, saw the term ‘sandwich compound’ and got distracted.)

It’s also worth noting that Bell’s contributed to putting 133 overs into Aussie legs. We all know the Aussies love a bit of rotation (possibly influenced by Kylie Minogue) and with the next Test starting on Thursday, boring stuff like batting like a ploddotron for most of a day can have a double impact.

How’s the Test going? The whole thing’s made us feel giddy and we’ve lost all critical faculties.

DON'T BE LIKE GATT!

Mike Gatting wasn't receiving the King Cricket email when he dropped that ludicrously easy chance against India in 1993.

Coincidence?

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28 comments

  1. Is I Ron Bell a thetan, like L Ron Hubbard?

    Do you really believe in I Ron? Indifference is NOT an option.

    Please hand over your money to me to help fund the I Ron religion.

  2. Good stuff. Still amazed by how much stick Bell gets. It’s because he still look young. I saw him at a Warwickshire 2nd XI match the other week. He had a wife and a baby. It was so wrong yet so right.

  3. Daneel – ok maybe not my youth. Young manhood, perhaps. I was 14 when MPV made his debut.

    1. Indeed – back then we were trying to prove that we weren’t really the worst team in the world.

      The rarefied atmosphere of the Highveld IIRC.

  4. I.Ron Man! And his wife, I. Ron Maiden.

    And their son, I.Ron Mike.

    Youve stumbled onto something special here, KC

  5. Moar statsguru.

    http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/stats/index.html?agemax1=31;ageval1=age;class=1;filter=advanced;orderby=runs;team=1;template=results;type=batting

    Runs scored by the age of 31. Not too many ahead of Bell, and it seems a fair bet that if he keeps his place for a few more years, Bell will end up ahead of pretty much everyone except Cook and Pietersen.

    Gooch scored almost 6500 runs and 17 centuries after 31.

    http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/stats/index.html?agemin2=31;ageval2=age;class=1;filter=advanced;orderby=runs;team=1;template=results;type=batting

  6. Can’t believe it’s been just 3 days of play–so much crammed into it like some feverish Hollywood scripwriter is at work here, with Agar and poor little I. Ron being broadsided by taller, more unethical forces in his vicinity.

  7. Two things:

    Firstly, Bell’s a different player these days. His Ashes average is often displayed as evidence of weak-headedness, but that’s the wrong approach. He was too young in ’05, and everyone played like toss the following series. I’m not sure what my point is here, I think he deserves less bitching is all.

    Secondly, if you are watching the cricket on the telly, live, and you switch on TMS on the BBC iplayer app, the two are in time. Did people know this? Am I late to this party?

  8. String, you’re right! The wonders of technology. I shall make the transition every time I hear the words “A change in the commentary box now, Ian Botham and David Gower.”

    1. Reason? We don’t need no steenking reason.

      I can only get through Ashes series by going Full Eeyore.

  9. Now look here you lot – no more of that lily-livered stuff on here today.

    Try stiff upper lips, steely determination and iron wills.

    Think Lord Cardigan at the Charge of the Light Brigade, think General Custer at Little Big Horn, think Lucius Aemilius Paullus at the Battle of Cannae.

    (That should settle them down, KC.)

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