Bell puts clear water between him and the other ginge

So Bells devious scheme of disappearing off to a county match to rack up 215 worked wonders. Maybe it was in the mind, maybe it was in the Muppet but it worked as England finished the 1st innings of the first Saffers test at Lords on 203 not out.

After two rain intervals and some whinging moron with a stupid face continually having a go at the umpires just because it was raining heavily bell faced Harris and 2nd ball pushed one just past his fingers and down to the boundary, bringing up his first international double ton and then declaring on 597 for 7.

This innings clearly means that he is in no way on shaky ground for a good while yet. Whilst for sadly obvious reasons his 203* interests the media less than KP's 152, and Colly was clearly very hard done by and Amla will pay for being a bearded git, the two ginges are no longer an item. On the ECB selection panels agenda that is. Probably.

So Freddie is still slated for a comeback and thanks to exhibit A AND Broads superb 76 the only name in the frame is Capn Colly. This will allow a 5 man bowling attack, which wasn't something that seemed feasible a few months back, but as naughty and irresponsible as it is, there is no way you can ignore a bowler like Broad with the runs he's got. And it would surely have been Chris Stuart Broad WHO USED TO BE A BATSMAN having to make way due to his less impressive bowling figures compared to the others. Indeed for now his batting would even be able to cover up for Tiny Tim's shortcomings for a little longer, and *IF* Freddie gets among the runs too then England could be in a seriously good position. And *WHEN* he doesn't well we still should have lost very little if anything.

Back to Bell it's really nice seeing one of the "other" batsman really put the enemy to the sword. One of the players that's just there in the background. I always liked him. I didn't join the "Beat Ian Bell around the head with his own bat then stick stumps up his bum" group on Facebook. Not me. That's the wife.