It’s all to play for, says England star Bell

IAN BELL admitted he was surprised by the way the Brit Oval pitch played on the opening day of the decisive fifth npower Ashes Test yesterday.

England need to win the Test match to regain the Ashes and a result at least looks likely after the hosts had battled their way to 307 for eight at the close.

Bell led the way with 72 and while England may have hoped to have been in a better position after at one stage being 176 for two, the Warwickshire right-hander believes a score over 300 may prove useful on a pitch that looks set to deteriorate.

“I don’t think we’ll know what a good score on this wicket is until after Australia bat,” Bell said.

“The ball didn’t quite come on like it usually does at The Oval. I was very surprised how it played here, it did look dry and it took a bit of spin which is unusual for here.

“Scoring was hard today. It was a tough day. We didn’t quite know how that wicket was going to play.

“It felt like a day two or day three pitch. Hopefully as the game goes on the pitch will deteriorate further. Tomorrow’s mornings session is going to be huge.”

Bell admitted it was disappointing none of the batsman had been able to go on and make a century.

“When you get starts you want to get big hundreds, so it is disappointing we couldn’t do that,” he said.

Any hopes of Flintoff penning an opening chapter of a fairytale Test finale disappeared during a procession of late-afternoon wickets.

England all-rounder Flintoff, given the warmest of receptions for his 79th and final Test, went cheaply during a slump of six for 131.

When Peter Siddle struck for the fourth time to claim the last of those, Graeme Swann caught behind to the second new ball, it signalled the close with England 307 for eight.

England manoeuvred themselves into a good position at lunch.

Captain Andrew Strauss and new number three Bell hit half-centuries but once again a failure to convert starts into three figures hamstrung England. They capitulated from 176 for two as the Australians profited from a combination of some disciplined bowling and poor shot selection.

There was no escaping that this was an opportunity wasted after Strauss won his fourth toss out of five.

The choice to bat was the sensible one and England made good of the new-ball period. They had galloped along at better than four-an-over to reach the interval on 108 for one.

It appeared the perfect platform from which to launch but a succession of uncertain prods and pokes unpicked the fine start.

Aussie bowler Peter Siddle, with figures of four for 63, broadly shares Bell’s view that all is to play for and is not getting carried away by his side’s impressive first day.

“It is going to take a long time,” he predicted.

“It will definitely go late into day five and it will be about the team which shows the most patience and consistency in what they do.

“I don’t know about the box seat – but we are in a pretty good position after being asked to bowl first.”