Bell calls time on ODI career

England Ashes-winner and all-time ODI run-scorer Ian Bell has officially announced his retirement from the 50-over format but insists he still has plenty to offer in Test matches.

Bell, who scored pivotal twin half-centuries on a promotion to No.3 in the third Ashes Test at Edgbaston, announced his decision to quit one-day international cricket and focus on the long-form of the game in his UK newspaper column.

Bell retires from the 50-over format as comfortably England's record run-scorer in the format with 5,416 runs at 37.87 from a 161-match career. He scored four centuries – the last of which came against Australia in Hobart in January this year – and 35 fifties since making his debut in 2004.

Bell's final ODI hundred came in Hobart

Bell had not been selected for England's one-day teams since their World Cup exit, watching from the sidelines as a new-look and fresh-faced England beat New Zealand at home. And he was one of three Ashes veterans – along with James Anderson and Stuart Broad – omitted from England's squad to face Australia in a T20 and five-match ODI series which starts in the early hours of Tuesday morning in Cardiff.

Quick Single: England name ODI, T20 squads

The 33-year-old said he could remember no tougher period than the 18 months following England's 5-0 humiliation at the hands of a rampant Mitchell Johnson and the Australians in the 2013-14 summer, with a humbling World Cup exit at the group stage following earlier this year.

"To sit here now as a five-time Ashes winner with the urn safely back in our hands is an amazing feeling, and something I struggle to put into words. But it's taken a hell of a lot out of me, that's for sure," Bell wrote for Metro.co.uk

Bell rings true at Edgbaston (restrictions apply)

"For that reason I've decided now is the right time to officially stand down from international one-day cricket and put all my focus and attention on my Test career."

Bell immediately targeted the next Ashes series in Australia in 2017-18 as his likely swansong from Test cricket.

"I would love nothing more than to go to Australia in two years' time and right the wrongs of our last Ashes tour there," he said.

"I've also been asked if I would like to become the first ever English six-time Ashes winner and the answer is yes, absolutely. If I'm playing well and feeling fit, that is without doubt my goal."

Bell was under pressure early in the Ashes series and had been tipped to be on the chopping block after scores of 1, 60, 1 and 11 in the first two Tests. However, England's axing of Gary Ballance instead saw Bell promoted to first-drop and he responded with scores of 53 and 65 not out on his home ground at Edgbaston to secure England a series-turning victory.

Siddle stunner claims Bell at The Oval (restrictions apply)

Bell then returned scores of 1, 10 and 11 to close out the series as he finished with 215 runs at 26.97, but with 7,569 career Test runs to his name England will likely need his experience in their next series against Pakistan in the UAE.

"Playing cricket for England means absolutely everything to me but I also know what it takes to be successful at the very highest level," wrote Bell.

"I spoke with (coach) Trevor Bayliss, (assistant coach) Paul Farbrace and (Test captain) Alastair Cook in the aftermath of the Oval Test. We had a really good talk and I was as honest as I could be.

"Deep down though, I think I probably knew I wasn't ready to call time on my England Test career. I still have that hunger and desire. The day you don't, is the day you step away."