After helping the White Ferns improve their batting form with 5 for 37 from nine overs, Bell has detailed for the first time the difficulties he faced in changing his bowling action while playing on the international stage.
“It’s been a tough couple of months, but I’m glad to have finished it off successfully today, it’s been a good day,” Bell said after Nat Sciver-Brunt and Amy Jones helped her to make her efforts worthwhile with half-centuries. “I came back from the series in New Zealand and we just tried to continue my career, become a better bowler and changed a few things in my action.
“But obviously when you bowl for a long time in a certain way it can be tricky. I haven’t really had a training block, I’ve just been playing, but I think in the long run it’s definitely best and will help me go forward today. But doing it on the international stage is definitely difficult.”
Bell returned from England’s tour of New Zealand earlier this year and was tasked with bowling more uprights, which has allowed him to develop the ability to swing the ball to either side.
Bell took five wickets on Wednesday, his first since playing for the Under-15s, largely through his throwing from behind and over the stumps, but the tall seamer said he received tremendous support from his team-mates and England’s coaching staff throughout.
“I fell a lot, so I thought if I could stand up straighter, I’d be safer. Then I could bowl higher, I’d be faster, and if I’m taller, I’d have more bounce,” she explained. “So initially, from that perspective, it was about adding speed to my bowling, adding speed and bounce, and being more upright, I could swing to both sides.
“I think he felt like a proud dad today,” Bell said. “There were tears, there was drama, there were disagreements. We work really closely together, and he put in a lot of time to get me here.
“I think my bowling coach knew one thing would lead to another,” she added. “I’m really excited about it and right now I’m just working on being consistent with my swing and of course the wobble ball. I’m just trying to learn, but hopefully in the long run it’s going to be really exciting.
“The breakthroughs, the lightbulbs we’ve had in the last few weeks have a lot to do with the mental aspect and how we approach games. Training has been great, but when you go out there it’s a completely different story. So I’ve worked a lot on my focus and concentration. I think I’ve gone in with both feet. I’m in now and there’s no going back. So I’m committed to it and I know it’s the best thing to do.
“I haven’t thought much about how I bowl for a long time. Now with the change in my behaviour, I’ve learned that I have to focus on it, so I have to focus, and there are some cues that help me with that. I reset every ball and focus on my cues. I think the routine I’ve picked up over the last few months will take me far, especially in pressure situations.”
Since then, she has played in three Test matches, 14 ODIs and 20 T20Is and has been regarded as a key player for England’s batsmen. But so far, she has struggled to look beyond the short-term impact on match results and focus on the long-term benefits.
“I’m definitely not used to having a few games in a row where things don’t go my way,” Bell said. “But everyone I’ve talked to, unfortunately, that’s what professional sports is all about. Whether you’ve changed something or just been through a rough patch, it happens, and it’s probably going to happen again, even to the best players in the world. It’s another experience I’ve built up moving forward.”
Valkerie Baynes is the Women’s Cricket Editor-in-Chief at ESPNcricinfo.
