Ian Bell admitted a positive approach had paid dividends as he provided a fitting riposte to his critics with 141 as England finished the fourth day in sight of victory over South Africa.
Ian Bell admitted a positive approach had paid dividends as he provided a fitting riposte to his critics with 141 as England finished the fourth day in sight of victory over South Africa.
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Bell's position in the side had been questioned following a poor run of form but a fine 227-ball innings guided England to 575 for nine.
Bell told Sky Sports 1: "I haven't listened to a lot of that. If I got selected it was a matter of me scoring some runs. I just needed to get out and score some runs and in this innings luckily I've done that."
He added: "I'd made a few errors thinking about games too much. Sometimes you can make it too complicated.
"I walked away and looked at a few things. I'd changed what I didn't need to do.
"This game I've gone back to what I've done in the past.
"I just wanted to play positive cricket. I was probably on the wrong side of being negative in last game, in this I was just positive."
On being asked if it had been an almost perfect day, Bell concurred, saying: "It was.
"It was a matter of winning the first hour this morning."
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