ASHES 2009: Bell's blast - we can still win this Oval battle, says upbeat England ace

By Myles Hodgson
Updated: 17:46 EST, 20 August 2009

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Ian Bell insisted England still have a fighting chance of winning back the Ashes, despite struggling to build on a strong start on the opening day of the final npower Test.

The Warwickshire batsman top-scored with 72 as England reached 307 for eight after winning the toss, having been 108 for one at lunch in a Test they must win if they are to regain the coveted old urn.

Fighting chance: Bell can scent Ashes victory, despite England's inadequate run total

But on an Oval wicket showing signs of turn, as underlined by the threat posed by part-time spinner Marcus North, and with Australia having left out specialist off-spinner Nathan Hauritz, Bell claimed their score would prove very competitive.

‘We haven’t thrown it away,’ said Bell after England lost five wickets for 126 runs in the final session.

‘We’ve got 300 on the board, which is great, and if we can scrap away to get a few more runs, get a bit of momentum and then start off well with the ball, then this game is really in the balance.

‘It does feel very unusual here at The Oval to see it spin like that and have such a dry pitch. Hopefully that’s a good thing for us if we can get a bit of a lead after the first innings because it won’t be easy batting last on this pitch.

‘I guess with the start we had, we could probably have been in a slightly better position than we are right now. But it was a hard day. It didn’t feel like your usual Oval pitch with pace and bounce, it felt slow and quite frustrating on occasion to time the ball.’

Frustrating: Bell will be pondering how he - again - failed to make three figures

Bell and captain Andrew Strauss, who forged a 102-run second-wicket stand, were both unfortunate to fall to no-balls which umpire Billy Bowden missed.

Bell conceded: ‘It’s frustrating but there’s not a lot you can do about that. I guess in a series like this it’s swings and roundabouts — we’ll get some and Australia will get some as well.’

Australia fast bowler Peter Siddle claimed the opening day was finely balanced, adding: ‘I think we’re in a pretty good position after being asked to bowl first and having to go out there on a decent wicket. To get eight wickets and them getting 300 is a pretty even day.’