Bell settling at No 6

Ian Bell is settling in at number six after being pushed up and down the England batting order. His place in the side has often appeared to be dependent on the fitness of England captain Michael Vaughan and all-rounder Andrew Flintoff, as much as his own form.
But with the fit-again Vaughan now back in the team at number three and Flintoff sidelined with a recurrence of his ankle problem, Bell is starting to find a place for himself in England's middle-order.
Bell, in 12 innings at No 6, has scored 591 runs at 73.88 including an important 97 during England's 60-run third Test win against the West Indies, which put them an unbeatable 2-0 up in the four-match series heading into the final Test starting at the Riverside here Friday.
"In the future I'd like to be pushing myself up the order but at the moment I'll do what fits in with the team," Bell told reporters at the ground here Wednesday. "I'm more than happy at six," said the 25-year-old Bell, four of whose six Test hundreds have come in that position.
But the Warwickshire right-hander, who has now played 26 Tests, explained that watching while England's in-form top-order took their chance against the West Indies attack did not come naturally to him. "I've had to do a lot of waiting around - especially in this series - because people are scoring a lot of runs. That is the main difference to batting at three.
"As long as the team are scoring runs and winning Test matches then that's all that matters," said Bell, who averages under 37.66 batting away from six. And Bell, who made 109 not out in the drawn series opener at Lord's, said he had no fears about being stranded with the tail. "All those guys, Ryan Sidebottom and Matthew Hoggard included, can all hold a bat and hang around for you."
The only member of England's top seven set to be playing at the Riverside who hasn't made a hundred this series is Andrew Strauss. The opener has scored just one hundred in his last 17 innings.
But Bell said he was confident the Middlesex left-hander would soon find his touch again. "We all know how good Straussy is as a player so I don't think there is any worry on that side of things. "He's working as hard as he ever has done so it's only a matter of time until those runs come back.
"It's not easy when things are not going your way. That's when you have to keep believing in yourself and make sure you're practising right and Straussy is doing all those things."
Vaughan, who last week reiterated his criticisms of Flintoff's booze-fuelled pedalo escapade at the World Cup, was pictured in several British national newspapers Wednesday apparently the worse for wear outside a hotel after celebrating England's win at Old Trafford. Bell, one of six players including Flintoff disciplined for late-night drinking in St Lucia at the World Cup, said the incidents were not comparable.
"It's not a great thing but I guess from Vaughany's point of view this was probably the right time in the right place. Our one was probably the wrong time in the wrong place."
On a more serious note Bell said he was relieved by the Jamaican police's announcement that Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer, his mentor at Warwickshire, had died of natural causes during the World Cup and had not been murdered as originally announced. "I guess it's a nicer thing to clear up that way than murder. The amount of stuff Bob did for me at Warwickshire, he helped me so much to get to where I am now. I think about that a lot."