Bell looks to Buttler for inspiration

Ian Bell will take inspiration from Jos Buttler as he looks to help England reverse their run of poor results in the build-up to the World Cup.

Buttler has been a rare source of encouragement for England in one-day cricket and Bell, who has a modest ODI strike-rate of 76.02, hopes he can learn from him and continue to improve, despite being a veteran of 148 ODIs.

He is set to move to No. 3 in Wednesday's first ODI against Sri Lanka with Moeen Ali opening the batting with captain Alastair Cook. Moeen made a 21-ball half-century in England's first warm-up match.

"That's the way we want to play and the way we've got to play: give everything this winter into one-day cricket and see where we get," Bell said. "I know my strike rate has been over 80 in the last two years and I want to keep improving.

"It doesn't matter whether you've played one game or a hundred. For me personally, I'm trying to improve my game. We've got some guys who have moved the game forward. Look at the way Jos Buttler plays. I'm trying to learn those skills and improve all the time in this format. It's an exciting time to be around.

"The day you don't want to get better is probably the day you don't want to be playing any more. I still think for me the best way to play is proper cricket shots, strong shots, using my skill to get the ball around the ground."

Bell reverted to No. 3 towards the end of the ODI series with India in September, having largely opened the batting since his return to the ODI side in 2010. Bell's move gives Moeen the latest chance to forge a partnership with Cook at the top of the order.

"Moeen played brilliantly the other day and got us off to an absolute flier, which was just great for all of us," Bell said. "He set the benchmark the way he played and I hope we can kick on from there.

"The good thing is we are flexible. Halesy could easily come in and open the batting; Moeen's done it; I could do it. When you're going to a World Cup, you need those options. We want to go to a World Cup with 15 players who could all step in at any time.

"There's no complacency in the side and the work ethic since we've been here has been incredible. That's probably down to the fact no one knows what the XI is going to be. I'd rather it be that way and I'm sure everyone does."

England enter Wednesday's opener with only one win from their past seven multi-match series - a 2-1 success in the West Indies in March.

"We haven't played particularly well in our last one-day series," Bell said. "But this is a great place to start improving. To win this series would be a massive bonus for us, building towards that World Cup."