by sussexpob » Fri Aug 28, 2015 8:42 am
And while I cant see why Bell would say that, in those terms, to be purposefully dishonest, I can see that the England setup have used the misunderstood quote to rally behind him and get him some good PR. I think that is a sensible thing to do for the team if it is true that (a) he isnt considering retirement and (b) the team are not considering getting rid of him. By focusing on Ian Bell as a whole, through 11 years of test cricket, they have people thinking positively. Had the statement not been throw away, and so seemingly honestly given, I would have said its a brilliant exercised PR stunt to get people off his back and stop them thinking of his short term form.
Having said that, this does leave two rather worrying conclusions after....
1. By rallying behind Bell and seemingly not acknowledging him being cast aside at this point, England seem to be backing a player on a long period of poor form, to the extent that it would look stupid if he scores 4 ducks in a row and then jettison him. England have played the long card, the journo's had the opportunity to stick the knife in and declined to take it...... after everyone says "problem, what problem" it would leave everyone in the press and team with egg on their faces if they admitted fault so quickly.
2. My subversively mentioning tiredness, mental draining, and saying he would "take stock", Ian Bell did not paint the picture of a man raring to jump into future battles. Lots of negative language, lots of uncertainty. To get good, he has to believe in his ability and be positive. The statement oozes of anything but.
In fact, the only other conclusion from his words you can make is, if he wasnt taking "stock" of his career future on his own terms, he is inferring he might get dropped.
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