Bell's 'perfect template' lifts England

After hammering 187 in England's second warm-up match in Australia, Ian Bell admitted to underperforming in the past but said his innings was the "perfect template" for how he hopes to open the batting. Bell conceded he had been worried about his World Cup place but was granted a chance to restate his case after Alastair Cook was dropped.

Bell had been successful as ODI opener after moving up the order in 2012, without quite scoring the number of centuries his talent demanded. He shifted to No. 3 as England tried Alex Hales as Cook's partner and then was dropped altogether, playing only two matches out of seven on the Sri Lanka tour, but was told he would return to the starting XI by new captain, Eoin Morgan.

With Moeen Ali continuing his impressive one-day form, Bell's knock, the highest by an England batsman (although the match did not have List A status), was another fillip ahead of the tri-series with India and Australia, which begins on Friday.

"Coming out here I didn't know where I was going to bat or if I would start, so it was nice to have a good chat with Morgs and for him to say I would get first crack at opening," Bell said.

"That filled me with a lot of confidence. It's nice to have a good start but the big stuff starts on Friday. I haven't thought about the World Cup, we want to play well in the tri-series, take it a game at a time. There were some good signs this week, some good things to take forward."

Bell's return got off to a solid start with a half-century against an ACT Invitational XI on Monday, as England amassed 364 for 6. Their positive intent reaped even greater rewards against a stronger Prime Minister's XI, with Moeen hitting 71 off 49 balls in a century opening stand and Bell batting for all but one ball of the 50 overs. He put the innings down as was one of his most enjoyable.

"One thing I've probably been guilty of in the time I've been opening is getting to 60, 70, 80 but never really gone on and enjoyed myself the way I did today," he said. "Hopefully I can use that and if I can do that a couple of times this winter, that's great for the team.

"I've been guilty in one-day cricket of getting a lot of fifties and not converting enough. That's what I can do if I bat 49.5 overs or whatever it was. I've spoken to Mooresy about that, I believe I can play at the top of the order for England. The thing is converting starts into match-winning scores. Today was pretty much perfect, template-wise, how I'd like to play in one-day cricket."

Having slipped down the pecking order and with England intent on giving opportunities to Moeen and Hales, Bell had been in danger of missing out on the World Cup 15. The late decision to dispense with Cook as captain meant Bell's experience was all the more valuable and his performances so far suggest he can repay the faith of Morgan and the coach, Peter Moores. Successive victories have also lifted the general mood surrounding the ODI side after a disappointing run of results.

"Of course," Bell said, when asked if he had worried about his place. "When you narrow the squad down and a lot of people have come in and done well... You want it to be competitive, people playing for places. That's a good thing but it's nice to get on the tour and start well.

"I've done a lot of netting in the last month or so but not a lot of game time. It was nice to get a really big score in a competitive game. I'm trying to focus very much on what I'm doing and striking it well, but the way Mo is playing at the minute is pretty destructive. He's had a great week and we want to start again on Friday.

"We couldn't have asked for better preparation going into the tri-series. It was a good run out for the bowlers as well. A good week for us."