You are in > manchester.com  > News > Moores: Bell can become special

Cricket

Moores: Bell can become special

16/12/2007

England coach Peter Moores says Ian Bell is developing into a "special" cricketer and expects him to start making big scores soon.

Moores has been impressed with the way Bell has played against Muttiah Muralitharan during the tour of Sri Lanka and hopes he will continue in that form during the final Test.

Bell averages 43.48 across his entire Test career, which currently stands at 32 matches, but he is averaging 56.5 during the current tour of Sri Lanka.

Mores believes that the 25-year-old is developing into a world-class player.

He said: "I think he is growing really quickly as a cricketer. Making this move from a good player to something very special.

"In Colombo he made a mistake with his option, which is fine. He played beautifully again, he has played Murali really well and is scoring runs."

Having batted as low as sixth in the order Bell has begun to cement himself as England's number three in recent months.

With the promotion up the order comes the expectation of scoring vital runs for the team, but Moores says he is confident that Bell will be able to succeed in this area.

"He is on that journey to convert those into bigger scores and has really started to show a level of maturity we want," said the England coach.

Bell is England's highest run scorer in the current series with Sri Lanka and will hope to go on and score the three-figure scores his coach has asked for in the final Test in Galle which starts on Tuesday.