LONDON: Struggling England batsman Ian Bell is backing himself to come good at No 3 in this week’s third Ashes Test against Australia at Edgbaston, he said on Monday.

The 33-year-old, under pressure for his place after a poor run of form, will move up the order in place of the axed Gary Ballance on his home ground.

“For me it’s about performing,” Bell told BBC Sport. “Whether you’re batting three, four or five you’ve got to score hundreds and I’m looking forward to that challenge. I know that when I play at my best I’m a world-class cricketer.”

Bell has made 117 runs in the last six Tests.

“It’s a brutal environment, international sport,” he said. “You have to perform. I’m realistic enough to know that I haven’t played to the best of my ability in the last two months.”

Bell, who averages 43.18 in 112 Tests, made the last of his 22 Test centuries against West Indies in April.

“I went from a hundred in Antigua to a little tricky run. Who’s to say that there’s not a hundred round the corner and I go off on a good run?” he said.

Bell believes confidence is high in the England camp despite the 405-run drubbing by the Australians in the second Test at Lord’s which levelled the five-match series at 1-1.

“People wrote us off for this Test series, said it was going to be 5-0, but we performed brilliantly in Cardiff,” Bell said. “We were poor at Lord’s but there’s no reason why we can’t turn it round at Edgbaston."

Published in Dawn, July 28th, 2015

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