Bell Happy to Be Thrown Into the Deep End As England's Regular No3

Ian Bell knows that the time is overdue for him to cast aside his image as the Tom Daley of English cricket. For too long now he has been saddled with the reputation as the youngster with a guaranteed bright future, a batsman who sooner rather than later will make a perfect entry.

Kevin Pietersen's captaincy of England promises to define Bell's international career. He has been taken out of his comfort zone and asked to prove himself at No3, not just for a dead Test against South Africa at The Oval but with the intention of laying down long-term plans for next summer's Ashes series. It is time to join the grown-ups.

How Bell copes with that challenge in India and the West Indies this winter will have a decisive bearing upon not only his own future but on England's Ashes challenge. If he fails, barring a reappearance from a rejuvenated Michael Vaughan, there are no obvious alternatives.

Pietersen will both cajole and challenge him. The new captain spreads a lot of love, but he has a volatile ambition and if things go awry it will soon become tough love. With the encouragement will also come the recognition that Bell must deliver.

Inner-city Birmingham on a sodden August day is not the sort of place to encourage optimism but Bell, back in his native county to open an power Urban Cricket Center at Highgate Park, sounded ready for the challenge.

"You look at the best players in the world and a lot of them bat at three or four," he accepted. "You want to test yourself as much as you can and batting at No3 you do that. You could be in after the first ball or three hours later. That challenges your skills as a batsman and that is what I want to face up to.

"It looks like I might get an opportunity now at No3 and it is up to me to take that opportunity. I have always done it for Warwickshire and I see no reason I can't do it at the next level."

The longer Vaughan's captaincy went on, and his reliance upon senior players became entrenched, the more there was a sense that younger players such as Bell were not developing. His beautifully crafted 199 against South Africa in the drawn first Test match at Lord's - however benign the pitch - restated his potential.

"It's definitely a pivotal moment in my career," he said. " I look at the team now and it is quite different to the one I came into with: Marcus Trescothick, Vaughan, Simon Jones and Ashley Giles. Those guys are no longer there and with 43 Test matches I am one of the senior players. It is now a time in my career where I should not see myself, or allow other people to see me, as a young player anymore. It is time to step up and deliver everything I can to help KP."

Australia made much psychological play upon Bell's immaturity in the 2005 Ashes series. Old Trafford apart, where he made two half-centuries, he had a tough time. Three years on, his Test average of 42 is highly respectable, but still shy of the world-class influence that England had hoped for. At No3, he averages only 34.

"I know I can do it, but I have to start converting those fifties into hundreds like I did at Lord's. Being 26 now, I have got experience behind me and I know a bit more about Test cricket. Hopefully I can use that to really drive myself forward. I am desperate to become a better player.

"Anyone that looks into the England dressing room and sees the talent inside it would believe that it is possible we can win the Ashes. The important thing in the lead-up to 2005 was that we were winning Test matches regularly. We desperately need that consistency back in our game."