Bell prepares for a make-or-break Test

Like the disappearance of Lord Lucan, the origin of Stonehenge and how Shane Warne went that colour, there are some mysteries that time seems unable to explain.

Maybe, eventually, we will reflect on the career of Ian Bell the same way. Bell is, arguably, as naturally talented a batsman as England have produced this century. At his best the ball is not so much hit or even caressed, but persuaded that it may like to go to the boundary and seems only too happy to oblige. He has the time, the timing and the technique to be a great player.

A fine career, he has had, too: 112 Tests, 22 centuries and an average of 43.18 is impressive by any standards. He has also played a part in a team that went to No. 1 in the world and won four Ashes series. If this is the end, he can look back with pride.

Yet a nagging thought remains that it might have been better still. A nagging thought remains that, despite all the success, it is a career that may fall short of the standards it might have reached.

If it seems premature to be talking of Bell's career in retrospect it is because it is, once again, at a crossroads. He arrives at Edgbaston, his home ground, as urgently in need of runs as at any time in his career. It is no exaggeration to suggest that this could be his last Test. It is remarkable how quickly tomorrow's man can become yesterday's.

Bell knows all this. Talking to the BBC at Edgbaston on Monday, he admitted he "hadn't performed to the best of my ability in the last two months" and accepted that international sport is "a brutal environment" in which "you have to perform."

"The only thing I can do really is focus on what's in hand," he said. "It's my home Test match. It's always great fun. I know the ground inside out. I've got to enjoy myself."

To some extent, Bell can count himself fortunate to make the team at Edgbaston. While Gary Ballance, with one score of 30 in his last 10 Test innings, has been dropped, Bell, with one score of 30 in his last 12, has been promoted. And as S Rajesh's excellent piece made clear, Bell's run of modest form is not so much a blip as a famine.

Yet the England management have decided he has the technique and temperament to come in when the ball may be at its hardest, the bowlers at their freshest and the pitch still lively. They have backed him in the hope that the challenge will bring the best out of him. It is a huge statement of belief. And, in such an important game, a huge gamble.

But perhaps that support is just what he requires. The last few months have contained many disappointments for Bell and it may be that they have resulted in an anxious player struggling to relax and allow his undoubted talent to flow.

Bell has had to accept the end of his ODI career - a career that, ultimately, must be considered a disappointment - and was replaced as vice-captain of the Test team by the younger and possibly more dynamic Joe Root. For the first time in his career, Bell is peeking over the other side of the hill and looking at life after international cricket. The view is unfamiliar and unnerving.

While the captaincy issue might have appeared obvious from the outside - Bell was the one man interviewed for a leadership position in 2011 who did not gain a role either as captain or vice-captain in one of the three formats - for a man whose leadership has long been admired at county level, it represented the end of a dream.

There is a school of thought that suggests Bell has never succeeded under pressure. And there is some truth in the claim that, early in his career at least, he was rarely the man for a crisis. He has admitted to making "pretty" but "soft" runs at that stage of his career.

Those criticisms were largely dismissed following success against South Africa, New Zealand and Australia. Most notably, he was the man of the series when England won the Investec Ashes in 2013. It seemed he had come of age at last.

But you are never more than a couple of months from a Bell "coming of age story." Instead of kicking on from that triumph, his contributions fell away. While he has rarely, if ever, looked out of form, only two centuries have followed in the subsequent 19 Tests. Seven times in his last 11 innings he has failed to pass one. He has slipped back into being stylish but insubstantial.

England need substance now. A team that has lost its top three so often is desperate for solidity and reassurance. Sending for Bell is a high risk approach, but it may yet be the making of him.

His recent form is baffling. He is not at an age where the reflexes should have slowed. He does not lack for desire. Yet he has been bowled four times in his last 11 innings and, worryingly, has started to look more fallible in the field. A couple of times he has failed to even react to potential slip chances. Everyone knows he has the class to flourish. Nobody can quite explain the inability to do it more regularly.

It may be relevant that, in 2013, he was usually batting at No. 5. With the bowlers generally into the second spells. With the ball a little softer. There were times when he saw off the second new ball, but promoting him to a more difficult position when he has been struggling anyway seems a move based more in hope than logic. After 112 Tests, we probably should not expect too many surprises. Bell will surely always remain mercurial now.

"I'm realistic," Bell told Sky on Monday. "I know I haven't performed in certainly the last six weeks to the level I expect an England player to perform.

"I still believe when I'm playing at my best I'm a world-class player and I'm desperate for the runs that come with being a top-order player for England.

"But I've known over a long time with England your job is to score runs. I haven't done that to the best of my capabilities over the last six or seven Test matches and hopefully this is the start of me kicking on and going forward again.

"It's been a tricky little six weeks for me and the runs have been nowhere near as much as I'd like but the game does change very quickly and hopefully this week is the start of me getting myself back into the form I expect of myself and I've shown over the last 11 years. This is a good opportunity to take some responsibility and score some runs."

We have been here before with Bell. He was dropped in early 2009, the victim of England's Jamaica debacle (they were bowled out for 51), before being recalled for the Edgbaston Ashes Test less than six months later. There he made a half-century and went on to top score in the first innings at The Oval; an innings that helped set-up the Ashes defining victory. He subsequently enjoyed the best couple of years of his career. His batting was, at times, utterly beautiful.

Perhaps all he requires is a slice of luck? While it is easily forgotten, Bell survived a huge shout for leg before off Peter Siddle when he had 26 at Edgbaston. Replays showed he should have been given out. At The Oval he survived a fierce working over from Mitchell Johnson. On such moments can careers be defined.

The difference, this time, is his age. A 33-year-old does not gain the patience as a 27-year-old. Failures are not forgiven so easily. There are fewer opportunities for recalls. It is now or never for Bell.