AUCKLAND, Jan 2: Matthew Bell, the recalled New Zealand opener, hopes the next five years of his career are played out at the highest level.

Bell’s excellent domestic record this season — 722 runs at 103.14, including a double-century in the State Championship —earned him a call-up to the Test squad against Bangladesh and he attributed his success to a change of focus in during the off season.

“I’ve put a lot of time and effort in and it’s nice that things are slowly but surely coming together,” Bell told the Dominion Post. “It’s just been about getting the physical side of things right as well as mentally.”

Bell spent plenty of time with fitness trainer Jamie Tout and Christie van Dyk, Wellington’s elite player-coach, as well as with several other Wellington-based national players during the winter.—Agencies