Ian Bell

Explore about the Famous Cricket Player Ian Bell, who was born in United Kingdom on April 11, 1982. Analyze Ian Bell’s net worth, age, bio, birthday, dating, height-weight, wiki. Investigate who is Ian Bell dating now? Look into this article to know how old is Ian Bell?

Ian Bell Biography

Batsman known for his Ashes victories with England, awarded an MBE for his performance in 2005, he began playing county cricket for Warwickshire in 1999.

He made his Test debut in 2004 and was named Emerging Player of the Year by the ICC in 2006.

He became one of very few batsman to have scored a Test century against all active Test-playing nations.

He married Chantal Louise Bastock.

He succeeded South African cricketer Kevin Pietersen as the ICC’s Emerging Player of the Year.

Ian Bell scored the fourth of England’s hundreds against the West Indies in the first Test at Lord’s in May. Along with Alastair Cook, Paul Collingwood and Matt Prior, they became the first four batsmen for England since 1938 to each score a century in the same Test match. Bell’s innings came at number 6 in the batting order and after England declared he had the impressive record at that position of 484 runs at 121.00.

Ian Ronald Bell MBE (born 11 April 1982) is an English cricketer who played international cricket in all formats for the England cricket team. He currently plays county cricket for Warwickshire County Cricket Club. He is a right-handed higher/middle order batsman, described in The Times as an “exquisite rapier,” who is a very good cover driver of the ball. He is an occasional right-arm medium pace bowler and a slip fielder. He is also noted for his sharp reflexes and often fields in close catching positions. He has scored twenty-two Test centuries and four One Day International (ODI) 100s. In 2015, he became the second player since Ian Botham to be involved in five Ashes series wins.

Bell made three appearances for Warwickshire’s second team in 1998, his next matches at senior level were with the England Under-19 cricket team on their tour of New Zealand that winter. He made 91 in the first innings of the first Test, and 115 in the first innings of the third; Dayle Hadlee called Bell “the best 16-year-old I’ve ever seen”, and he was often compared with former England captain Mike Atherton. Bell played in several more Under-19 series, captaining the team at home against Sri Lanka in 2000, in their 2000/01 tour of India, and for the first match at home against West Indies in 2001.

By this time Bell had made his first-class debut, appearing in a single match for the Warwickshire first team in September 1999, but was out for a duck in his only innings and played no further part at that level until 2000/01, when he followed on from his Under-19 matches by playing for England A against the Leeward Islands in the Busta Cup tournament game in Anguilla.

Bell was named in the first intake of the ECB National Academy who spent the 2001/02 winter in Australia. The day after he returned home from Adelaide he was brought into the full England Test squad to cover for the injured Mark Butcher on the New Zealand tour.

Bell broke into the Warwickshire first-team in 2001 as he scored 836 runs in 16 innings including three centuries and two scores of 98. His first century, a score of 130 against Oxford UCCE, made him the county’s youngest ever centurion at 19 years and 56 days. He also became the county’s youngest capped player ever when Warwickshire awarded him a county cap on the final day of the season.

In 2002 Bell’s four-day form fell away as he scored 658 at an average of 24.37 however he was instrumental in the county’s Benson & Hedges Cup success. He top-scored in the Quarter-final (scoring 85 not out), Semi-final (46) and Final (65 not out), the latter performance winning him the Gold Award in the last ever Benson & Hedges Cup final.

Bell’s best form in 2003 once again came in the one-day format, he scored 779 runs at 28.85 in the County Championship compared to 560 runs at 43.07 in the National League, his best performance came at Chelmsford where he scored his maiden one-day century, 125 off 113 deliveries, as well as taking 5/41, his best one-day bowling figures. This was only the second time a Warwickshire player had achieved this feat.

After two poor seasons Bell was back to his best in 2004, he scored 1498 Championship runs which included six centuries. One of the six was a career-best 262 not out against Sussex; the innings lasting ten minutes short of ten hours made him the county’s youngest ever double-centurion. In late July he began an impressive sequence of four centuries in five first-class innings, the other being a score of 96 not out. The centuries in both innings against Lancashire were the first by a Warwickshire batsman against an authentic attack (David Hemp achieved the feat against declaration bowling) since Brian Lara in 1994. This run of form led to him being brought into the England Test squad when Graham Thorpe was left doubtful with a finger injury.

For the 2005 Ashes series, three players – Bell, Graham Thorpe and Kevin Pietersen – were in the running for two spots in the team, and Bell and Pietersen were preferred to Thorpe. Before the first Test at Lord’s, Bell’s test average was 297, rising to 303 just before he was out, the sixth highest average at any point of a player’s career of all time. Bell failed in the first two matches, at Lord’s and Edgbaston, but in the third Test at Old Trafford he overcame early struggles against Shane Warne to post a half-century in each innings. However, he only scored six runs in four innings in the fourth and fifth Tests, including a pair at the Oval, leaving him with a batting average for the series of only 17.10, by far the lowest of the English batsmen. He was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 2006 New Year Honours. Despite England winning the Ashes back and being appointed MBE, Bell has since described the 2005 Ashes as a low point during which he doubted himself.

In 2005, Bell enjoyed a superb start to the season, scoring 480 first-class runs in April alone to break Graeme Hick’s 17-year-old record. He was recalled to the England team for the two-Test series against Bangladesh, however England’s innings victories in both Tests allowed him only two innings. In the first Test at Lord’s, Bell made 65 not out, and in the second at Chester-le-Street he scored 162 not out, in the process becoming the first Englishman since Leslie Ames in 1935 to score over 100 runs before lunch in a Test match.

In September 2006 Bell was named in the squad for the Champions Trophy in India and also in the squad to tour Australia to attempt to retain the Ashes. In the absence of Marcus Trescothick he was promoted to open the batting for the one-day side. In England’s three matches he scored 97 runs, at an average of 32.33. England lost their first two games (to India and Australia) and crashed out of the tournament despite a final group-stage win over eventual runners-up, West Indies.

This form on the subcontinent continued on 18 February 2006 in England’s first warm-up game prior to the Test series against India when Bell top-scored with 78 at Mumbai. He could not maintain this form into the Test series where, in 6 innings, he only scored 131 runs at an average of just under 22.

In the 2006 New Year Honours List, Bell was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire for his role in the successful Ashes campaign of 2005. In November 2006, he was awarded the Emerging Player of the Year award by the International Cricket Council. During 2008 and 2009, he was a more infrequent member of the England teams – however he reclaimed his Test place during the 2009 Ashes, which England won, and featured in several ODIs the following year. During 2010, he captained Warwickshire to victory in the CB40 final before scoring his first Ashes century the following winter as he helped England retain the Ashes down-under. Warwickshire County Cricket Club awarded Bell a benefit in 2011.

Travelling with the team to Sri Lanka in late September 2007, Bell at first continued his impressive one-day form, scoring 131 from only 121 deliveries, in England’s only warm-up match against a Sri Lanka Cricket Board XI. However, Bell struggled with the bat in the subsequent 5-game ODI series, scoring just 70 runs at an average of 14.00.

On 21 August 2007, Bell scored his maiden ODI century in the first of seven one-day matches against India, scoring 126 runs off 118 balls (a strike rate of 106.8). Bell went on to score two more fifties in the next two games, including a player-of-the-match 79 at Edgbaston as England took a 2–1 lead in the series. Bell eventually averaged 70.33 for the seven games as England claimed the series 4–3, with a convincing 7 wicket win in the deciding match at Lord’s, and Bell was named Man of the Series.

After a poor first Test for England which ended in a draw at Centurion, Bell, with scores of 5 and 2, Bell’s place in the team was under fire. England Team Director Andy Flower gave Bell a vote of confidence and the response from Bell was his first Test match century since his 199 vs South Africa in July 2008. In the second Test at Durban, Bell scored 141 runs in the first innings to hush his critics – prior to this innings his Test batting average had fallen to 38.9. The final two tests were modest for Bell, who scored 166 runs in 4 innings at an average of 41.50. However, the series marked the beginning of a period of substantial batting achievement for Bell. Less than two years later his average would stand at 49.29; the figure at right shows that over the same period his ten innings moving average rose from 32 to 119 runs.

Bell married wife Chantal in 2011. They honeymooned in the Maldives. She was described by David Lloyd as “A star of a missus.” He is a football fan and an Aston Villa supporter and can be seen regularly at Villa Park during games.

His innings of 159 against India at Nottingham was nominated to be one of the best Test batting performance of the year 2011 by ESPNCricinfo. For his performances in 2011, he was named in the World Test XI by Cricinfo.

During the 2011 summer, Bell was an integral part of the team that inflicted a 4 – 0 Test whitewash over the Indian cricket team, helping England to become the number 1 team in the world for the first time since the ICC ranking came into existence. Bell was involved in a controversial run out during the series. Believing the ball to be dead after reaching the boundary, Bell left the middle to head in for tea, however the ball had not actually crossed the boundary and was promptly thrown in by the fielder and the bails taken off. Initially given out, the Indians retracted their appeal at tea and Bell returned to carry on his innings straight after. Bell scored his first double ton in the series, a test best of 235. For taking this decision the Indian captain, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, won the ‘Spirit of the cricket’ award at the 2011 ICC Awards.

In the February and March Bangladesh, India, and Sri Lanka hosted the 2011 World Cup. In England’s first match they successfully chased a high total by Netherlands, with Bell contributing 33 runs. Next England played India, put up a challenging total of 338. Bell and his captain Strauss set about consolidating England’s position, while Bell survived a lbw decision off the bowling of left-arm spinner Yuvraj Singh. Opposition captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni asked for a review. TV replays and Hawk-Eye showed that Bell was indeed plumb. However, since there was a rule wherein the on-field umpire (Billy Bowden here) can have the final decision if the batsman was 2.5 metres forward from the stumps, the umpire stood by his ‘not out’ decision. Bell went on to make 69 runs and almost helped England win comfortably. This match eventually ended in a tie.

In July 2012, Bell signed a new three-year contract with Warwickshire extending his stay at the club at least till 2015. In November 2015, England selectors announced that Bell would be dropped from the English side ahead of the test series with South Africa. In August 2016, it was announced that Bell would be playing for the Perth Scorchers in the 2016–17 Big Bash League season. In August 2018, Bell scored his 20,000 run in first-class cricket.

Despite coming under pressure, Bell kept his place for the tour of Pakistan. He scored 63 in England’s first innings of the first Test, as they posted 598/9. He made an unbeaten five in the second innings but England were unable to force a victory. He was out for four in the first innings of the second Test, but improved in the second innings, scoring 46. Despite this, England suffered a defeat by a margin of 78 runs. Bell made 40 in England’s first innings of the final Test match, as they took a first innings lead. However, he was dismissed for a duck in the second innings as England were bowled out for 156 to lose the match and the series 2–0.

In the first Ashes Test Bell could only make 1 in the first innings, although he then made 60 in the second innings as England won the match convincingly. In the second Test Bell struggled and made just 12 runs in the match as England lost by 405 runs. Following the defeat, Bell was moved up the order to three and responded well in the Third Test, scoring 53 in the first innings and an unbeaten 65 in the second innings as England won by eight wickets. Bell made just 1 in the fourth Test as England won by an innings and 78 runs to win the series. In the final Test, he made ten in the first innings and 13 in the second as England lost by an innings and 48 runs, but won the series 3–2.

Bell enjoyed a disappointing time in the series against New Zealand. He made just one in the first innings and then followed this up with 29 in the second innings. Despite this, England went on to win the match by 124 runs. Bell’s poor form continued in the next Test as he made scores of 12 and one as England lost the game to draw the series 1–1. Bell also dropped several catches in the second Test.

Bell was selected in the England squad that toured the West Indies. He made 143 in the first innings of the first Test, but was dismissed for 11 in the second innings after being run out. The match ended in a draw. Bell could only make 1 in England’s first innings of the second Test. However, England went on to win the game to take a 1–0 lead in the series. Bell had a poor game in the final match of the series after being dismissed for a duck in both innings. England went on to lose the game by five wickets as the West Indies fought back to level the series at 1–1.

Bell was selected in the England squad that toured the West Indies. He made 143 in the first innings of the first Test, but was dismissed for 11 in the second innings after being run out. The match ended in a draw. Bell could only make 1 in England’s first innings of the second Test. However, England went on to win the game to take a 1–0 lead in the series. Bell had a poor game in the final match of the series after being dismissed for a duck in both innings. England went on to lose the game by five wickets as the West Indies fought back to level the series at 1–1.

Bell was named in the ODI squad for their series against Sri Lanka. He made 50 in the first match of the series as England won by 81 runs on the DL Method. He made 12 in the following match, before hitting an unbeaten 41 in the third match of the series to help England to a ten wicket victory. England lost the final two matches of the series, with Bell making scores of seven and 37 in the next too matches. The two defeats meant that England lost the series 3–2. In the First test, Bell made scores of 56 and 9 as the match ended in a draw. The second and final Test of the series was Bell’s 100 Test match. He made 64 in the first innings to help England into a strong position, before making just eight in England’s second innings as they collapsed to lose the match.

Bell made scores of 5 and 32 in the first test in Brisbane, but England lost the match. He made his highest score of the series, 72 in the second Test, which England again lost by a big margin as Australia went 2–0 in the series. The series was lost after just three games when Australia took a 3–0, lead with Bell making scores of 15 and 60. Bell did not make a half century again in the series as England tour began to fall apart after losing the Ashes. He made 27 runs in the fourth Test, which included a duck, before making just 18 runs in the final Test as Australia won the series 5–0. Senior batsmen such as Bell, Cook and Pietersen were criticised in the English media for their lack of runs, with Bell himself making just two half centuries and failing to score a hundred in the series. Bell showed good form in the opening two ODIs, making a score of 41 in the first match before being run out for 68 in the second. Despite this, England went on to lose both matches. In the third ODI Bell made 29 before being run out for the second consecutive match. England won their only game of the tour in the fourth ODI, with Bell making 55. He made 14 in the final match as Australia won the series 4-1.

He was also named in the Test XI by Cricinfo for 2013.

What's Ian Bell Net Worth 2024

Ian Bell Family