Matt Prior Makes A Shocking Claim On Virat Kohli, Rates Him Below Ian Bell In This List

The art of stroking the ball through the cover area is known as the “cover drive” in gentleman’s games. The masters of the well-known stroke include some of the greatest batters in the annals of the sport, including Ian Bell, Viv Richards, Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, and Babar Azam.

A curious topic regarding the cover drive stroke was posed to Matt Prior during a recent one-off Question and Answer (Q&A) session on Espncricinfo.

In a video interview with Espncricinfo, former England batsman Matt Prior praised Ian Bell’s technique and said the former team captain has a fantastic cover drive.

“Ian Bell, Played a lot with the Bell, the Most Beautiful cover drive in cricket for many years,” Matt Prior said.

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Bell was a virtuoso at timing the ball and was renowned for his exquisite stroke-making throughout his playing days.

In 118 Test matches for England, the right-hander amassed 7727 runs, including 22 centuries and a double hundred. However, his performances in forms with fewer overs weren’t as dependable. Bell participated in 160 ODIs and just 8 T20Is, scoring 5604 runs overall in both formats.

Ian Bell played his last international game in 2015:

Bell, who made his England debut in 2004, spent 11 years with the team, helping them to five Ashes series victories. He won Player of the Series honors in 2013 after scoring 562 runs at an average of 62.44.

Ian Bell Image-Twitter — Ian Bell. (Credits: Twitter)

Bell also had success in ODI cricket. He was England’s top run-getter in the format with 5416 runs until former captain Eoin Morgan passed him in 2018. Bell continues to rank third among English players who have scored the most runs in a fifty-over format.