Cricket: Captaincy brings Bell out of the shadows

By TERRY MADDAFORD

Matthew Bell is happy to let his bat do the talking. And hope the New Zealand cricket selectors are listening.

Now firmly part of Wellington cricket, the former Northern Districts and New Zealand opener admits he is "slowly getting his head around things" after being pitched into the test arena as a 21-year-old where, in eight matches and 15 innings, he struggled to make an impact.

"Being away from test cricket - and in hindsight perhaps I was pitched in one season too soon - has given me the chance to recharge my batteries," the 23-year-old Bell said. "For sure I still think about test cricket, but I also look at a player such as Mark Richardson, who got a lot of first-class hundreds before playing a test."

Bell had scored only three centuries - from 114 first-class innings - before this season, but in four Shell Trophy innings this term has scored a couple more for an early season average of 81.25.

He is sure that the added responsibility of leading the Wellington side has helped.

"The buck stops with me," said Bell, who has four former Wellington captains among his charges. "I put my hand up at the start of the season and said I would be happy to do it."

Bell's only previous captaincy experience was with the Northland and Northern Districts under-14 and under-16 sides, but he has accepted the challenge of leading Wellington - something of an enigma in their struggle for consistency - and continuing his close relationship with coach Vaughn Johnson.

"I'm still quite young to captain a team with guys such as Roger Twose and Jason Wells in it," Bell said. "But they are happy to work with me.

"It has been a good season and I'm rapt in the way things have gone individually and as a team. It helps that I have been getting runs and can then put some pressure on the others to do the same.

"I came into the season more relaxed and fitter than I might have been in the past. I now go out determined to get to 50 and then convert that into a century."

Unlike other years when he has played cricket during the off season, Bell spent the winter in Wellington, did a couple of business papers and joined Wells and Wellington allrounder James Franklin in playing some soccer at Miramar Rangers.

"I would say I have got the balance in my life right. I came into the season hungry for runs. Last year I got tied down and worried too much about my technique. Now I'm happy to go with the flow. If you don't score runs in one game, that does not make you a bad player overnight."

No one has ever questioned Bell's ability. He is again showing out as a well-rounded player.

His captaincy in this week's Shell Cup win over Auckland at Eden Park showed a maturity rarely seen from one with so little experience.

In refusing to panic as Andre Adams threatened to steal an unlikely victory from the Wellington Firebirds, Bell put his hand up as a player who may yet return to make an impact at the highest level as a batsman and, perhaps, as captain.