Ian Bell kept in the dark over moving up the order

Bell's first-innings 53 in England's 267-run Ashes series-levelling defeat in Perth was his fourth successive Test half-century.

Many concluded after the WACA that it was time for him to go back above the out-of-form Paul Collingwood in the order.

Asked about it today, though, he made it clear there has been no hint either way from captain Andrew Strauss or coach Andy Flower.

"I've had no discussions about it," he said.

"It's always nice to get moved up the order. But whether that happens or not is irrelevant for me for this series, as long as we're winning the next two Test matches.

"That's the most important thing to me, contributing to this team winning the Ashes."

Bell took part, along with the full squads from both countries, in a set-piece preview event for the fourth Test in Melbourne's Queensbridge Square.

If a gathering of hundreds rather than thousands of people did not convey the wall-to-wall fever pitch anticipated from a record 90,000-plus crowd at the MCG on Sunday, there was still enough excitement in the air to conclude a significant event is in the offing.

Bell was able to feed off some of that when he spoke shortly afterwards of England's intention to embrace the occasion, and show themselves in a better light than they managed at the WACA.

"Playing here in Melbourne is something you look forward to - a Boxing Day Test match is always special," he said.

"The Oval in the last Ashes was a pretty big game - any England-Australia game is a huge game.

"But it's probably one of the most exciting Test matches I feel we're going into.

"We're particularly excited about playing on one of the best grounds in the world and trying to put right what we did wrong in Perth.

"I think we've played some very good cricket since we've been here.

"We had a blip in Perth - we knew Australia at some point would play some great cricket and have some great individual performances."

England have done some straight talking, in private, since that setback - and are confident they are back on the right track.

"We've had a good opportunity to have a sit down and talk about what happened in Perth ... in Melbourne, I'm sure we can put right what went wrong," Bell added.