Ian Bell talks to ecb.co.uk at the end of a tough day for England
A defiant Ian Bell has urged England to “show fight” tomorrow as they aim to avoid falling 2-0 behind in the Ashes.
Responding to Australia’s 570 for nine declared, the tourists were skittled for just 172 on the third day in Adelaide.
Bell was one of the few bright spots, striking a fine unbeaten 72 in the face of a stunning spell from Mitchell Johnson, who claimed 7-40.
Australia subsequently extended their lead to 530, David Warner’s powerful 83 not out leaving their second-innings score on 132 for three.
Bell, though, believes England can find a route back by drawing on past experiences of dramatic rearguards.
He told ecb.co.uk: “We have to believe we can save this game. We have done it before; we have shown people in Cape Town, Cardiff.
“There are lots of examples of us doing that in the past so we’re going to have to get a few guys – one to 11 – standing up and showing some fight over the next two days.
“It is an opportunity and challenge for us and we have got to look at it that way. The important thing is for us to dust ourselves down and turn up tomorrow with some fight.
“You never know. Cricket is a funny game and if we can get some guys with some hundreds under their belts, we can take it close.”
If England are to bounce back, they must first put the demons of a difficult day behind them.
“It was a frustrating day,” added Bell. “We obviously came here with an opportunity to come out and score some big runs so it is quite disappointing not to have done that today.
“It is nice personally to get some time in the middle and play quite nicely but, overall, there are some guys hurting in the dressing room. We’re desperate to put things right.”
When it came to pinpointing England’s struggles in the series thus far, Bell admitted: “Mitchell Johnson has bowled well and as a unit they’ve bowled well.
“But we haven’t got out there and got through those periods. I think we have lost some key periods; probably like we won in England, we’ve lost here.
“It just shows that in an hour of cricket, you can lose it if you are not on it straight away.”