BRISBANE, Nov 18: Ian Bell has come a long way since notorious sledger Shane Warne first likened him to the red-haired nerd from the comedy film American Pie, and with Australia facing the prospect of a fourth successive Ashes loss it is the England batsman who could be having the last laugh.

Bell’s early susceptibility to spin bowling at one stage threatened to derail his career and leave him in the bin marked ‘unfulfilled potential’, and Warne could not resist having a dig during England’s ill-fated 2006-7 Ashes tour.

“You don’t like being called The Sherminator do you?” the stump microphone caught the Australian spin great as saying. “I’ve been called worse,” was Bell’s reply.

But since Warne quit the game and retreated to the commentary box, Bell has gone from strength to strength and could well be the first cricketer to retain the Compton-Miller medal as Player of the Series.

“Looking back when I’ve finished, to be the Man-of-the-Series and win the Miller-Compton award, I think will be one of the best things I’ve ever done in my career,” he said.

Bell was taking nothing for granted.

“Whether I had a bad series last one or a good one, it’s all gone in the past now,” Bell said last week. “Now is not the time to look at that. We’ve got five big Test matches coming up and we want to win them and that’s the important thing for me, not what’s happened in the past.”—Reuters