Bell calls for aggressive England approach

England's one-day batting has long been on the diffident side but Ian Bell has called on his team-mates to be "fearless" in their attempts to build momentum for the World Cup, suggesting the public would rather see them "be aggressive and lose" if the alternative was another tame exit from a tournament they have underperformed in for more than 20 years.

The England players landed in Sri Lanka on Sunday evening, ahead of a seven-ODI series that will form an important part of their preparation for the World Cup. It has taken Bell a good deal of time to shed his own reputation for hesitancy but, as one of only two players in the squad aged over 30 and having appeared in two previous World Cups, he appears ready to set a more combative example.

Since reaching the final of the Champions Trophy in home conditions last year, England's one-day form has been insipid, with four series defeats out of five. The captain, Alastair Cook, has insisted there won't be a "radical change" to their gameplan but Bell believes the team is capable of a more attacking mindset in the 50-over format, which will occupy England's schedule until the end of the World Cup - however soon that comes.

"In this country so much is built around Test cricket and Ashes cricket, but we've never won a 50-over tournament so the incentive is there to be the first English team to win a World Cup, you don't need any more motivation than that," Bell said.

"We're lucky to be able to pull on the England shirt and go and have a crack. There is a lot of hard work to be done but when we get out there we've got to be aggressive, we've got to be fearless and give it everything. I think people would rather see us be aggressive and lose instead of be timid and come away with nothing. Everyone's mindset is to play aggressively."

England's pursuit of a more dynamic style of play has actually had implications for Bell, who will be aiming to secure himself a new berth at No. 3 in Sri Lanka. With the belligerent Alex Hales brought in to partner Alastair Cook for the recent series against India, Bell was forced down the order - and then out of the side with a fractured toe.

After returning to the ODI side as an opener in 2012, Bell averaged 45.65 in the position, scoring two of his three hundreds, but he now faces competition from the likes of Moeen Ali and Joe Root to come in at first drop.

"Hopefully I still see myself batting at number three where I was moved to at the end of the summer," he said. "I will bat wherever I am asked, I love opening the batting but three is not much different and I just have to go and do it. In the last couple of years in one-day cricket, apart from the little bit of inconsistency in the summer I couldn't have argued about how it's gone since I got back in the side, consistently scoring runs at a good rate. So hopefully I can get back to that and kick on.

"It's exciting for all the guys, to compete for places and get in the squad. That's what we need, I don't think you want 11 guys knowing they are in the 11, you want that little bit of edge, people playing for places. We are playing for England, it's not a club side on a Saturday, we need that competition and the England teams I have played in at our best, when you know there is someone right behind you pushing for your place, that gets the best out of players."

A show of aggression from the ever-stylish Bell would doubtless be welcomed, as England seek to bring their critics on side. Scores of 300 or more - never an England forte - will be anticipated at the World Cup, although Rohit Sharma's dazzling, individual 264 in Kolkata last week was proof that the limits of one-day cricket can be pushed further still. For Bell, however, there was also a lesson dear to the heart of the England set-up: bat long, build an innings.

"The thing is, it is amazing watching him play because he doesn't slog, they are proper cricket shots," he said. "I didn't see it all but the facts are there: India didn't get off to an absolute flying start, what he did really well is what we have talked about before, he batted the 50 overs and that was the important thing. The way he scored at the end, that is possible for all our players, but you have to bat that time."

England will still be focused on hundreds - rather than doubles - from the top order, which is probably sensible, given they have been hard enough to come by as it is.

"The stats of English cricket, Marcus Trescothick still has the most hundreds and he is probably the one guy you would say has the amount he should have," Bell said. "Going back we have had some great one-day players, but we haven't stacked up a lot of hundreds. Whether that is to do with the conditions we play in in England, I don't know, but if we can do that in Australia, we can have somebody scoring a hundred and guys playing cameos around that, we can get our reward."