Bell: Players must take more responsibility

Cricket365
May 11, 2014

England batsman Ian Bell feels the senior players, himself in particular, must take more responsibility within the side, and not allow the blame for defeats to fall on the shoulders of the coaches.

Bell scored a half century in England's win over Scotland in a one-off ODI on Friday, which was new coach Peter Moores' first game in charge. Moores was appointed, his second bite at the England cherry, after Andy Flower resigned post-Ashes tour.

That trip to Australia was disastrous, resulting in a number of backroom changes, but Bell feels the players must be allowed to take more responsibility, and also the blame when things go wrong.

Bell said after the win in Aberdeen: "Looking back, you can't blame the coaches for what happened in the winter.

"We should have taken responsibility and didn't do that. We hope he will now give us the chance to make amends.

"The players have to stand up and score runs and take wickets, no matter who's coaching. We've got two guys who have been brilliant so far.

"They will be finding their feet over the next few days, but they have challenged us already.

"We've really enjoyed it, but it's about the players standing up and winning games for England."

One of Moores' main failing in his first stint, according to various players' recollections, was that he was too rigid, and too controlling of the players and the tactics. Bell feels he was mellowed with age, and the players are keen to help their coach.

Bell continued: "He's a very good coach with lots of qualities, and I'm sure he's learnt from mistakes he's made – I know he's said that.

"I think he's got that experience of probably understanding international cricket a bit more. I'm sure he's learnt a lot in the five years he's been with Lancashire.

"Maybe he will go away a bit from looking at stats all the time and give a bit more responsibility to us. It's important for us to make decisions."