When English batting is facing continuous trouble in Test cricket, former English pacer Steve Harmison has suggested to bringing back one high-experienced English batsman to tackle the present tough batting situation.

English wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow is doubtful for the fourth Test at Southampton, starting from August 30, due to suffering a fracture on his left middle finger, while experienced and out-of-form opener Alastair Cook is likely to miss the Southampton Test due to the birth of third child.

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While a big gap seems to be coming for the upcoming fourth Test, Harmison has asked to bring back Ian Bell in the Test side. The 36-year-old Bell, who has played his last international match in November 2015, was once the regular English batsman for a long time.

Since making debut in international cricket in April 2004, the top-order right-handed batsman Ian Bell has played 118 Tests, 161 ODIs and 8 T20Is for England where he has scored 7,727 runs (average 42.69), 5,416 runs (average 37.87) and 188 runs (average 26.85) respectively.

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Currently, Bell is in the dangerous form with the bat as he is the third leading run-scorer in the ongoing 2018 Specsavers County Championship Division Two. Playing 16 innings, Bell has scored 667 runs in the ongoing County Championship season with the average of 51.30. The Warwickshire batsman has hit three centuries and two more half-centuries and his best knock is 172 against Kent.

Moreover, Bell is also the second leading run-scorer in the ongoing season’s domestic T20 tournament (2018 Vitality Blast). Playing for Birmingham Bears, Bell has scored 580 runs in 14 innings with the average of 48.33, including one century and four half-centuries.

Supporting Bell’s return to the Test side, Harmison told ESPNcricinfo on Tuesday, “There’s talk of Jonny Bairstow not playing the next Test match because of a broken finger, so then who replaces Jonny Bairstow? There’s talk about Alastair Cook not playing, so there’s already a gap coming there. There’s even talk of Ian Bell coming back into the Test arena at 36, that’s how much England needs a bit of stability in that middle order.

“When you look at it like that, England’s top six batsmen are going to be looking over their shoulders thinking ‘right, I better score some runs here because if I don’t, Ian Bell walks back into the Test arena, gets a hundred, he’ll stay for a while’. Bell has got 8,000 Test runs, so in his eyes, he shouldn’t have been dropped in the first place.”