Ian Bell, the former England batter, has been appointed as Sri Lanka’s batting coach for their upcoming tour of England. The tour will feature three Tests, commencing on August 21st. Bell’s role will commence on August 16th and continue until the conclusion of the series.
Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) CEO Ashley De Silva expressed the rationale behind Bell’s appointment: “We appointed Ian to bring in a person with local knowledge to help the players with key insights on the conditions there. Ian has a wealth of experience playing in England, and we believe his inputs will be invaluable to our team during this crucial tour.”
Since retiring from playing in 2020, Bell has accumulated extensive coaching experience. He has served as batting coach for the England men’s U-19 and England Lions teams, assistant coach at Hobart Hurricanes, consultant batting coach at Derbyshire, and assistant coach of the New Zealand men’s side ahead of the 2023 ODI World Cup. Most recently, he held the position of assistant coach at Melbourne Renegades in the BBL and is currently the coach of the Birmingham Phoenix side in the Men’s Hundred.
England batter Jamie Smith, who works with Bell at Phoenix, shared his thoughts on the appointment: “He’s reminded me a few times that he’s going to be in the opposite camp in this series.”
Sri Lanka will be hoping that Bell’s expertise will guide them to their first Test series victory in England since 2014. The team, led by Dhananjaya de Silva, will face England in three Tests: Manchester (August 21-25), Lord’s (August 29-September 2), and the Oval (September 6-10).
