Bell concerned for his England chances

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The 27-year-old Warwickshire batsman was overlooked for England's first Test squad of the summer despite returning from the Caribbean and scoring two centuries already this season in domestic cricket. Instead of recalling the in-form Bell or the experience of former captain Michael Vaughan, England chose Ravi Bopara as the man to fill their number three spot for next week's opening Test against West Indies at Lord's.

"The problem I have now is the way the fixtures are set out," conceded Bell, who was dropped after the first Test defeat at Jamaica after averaging just 19.45 in his previous six appearances. "I have this four-day match with the Lions, we have a championship match against Yorkshire next week and then there is a month of Twenty20 cricket so there's not a lot of time and opportunity there to go and score big hundreds in four-day cricket and push to get your place back in the Test team."

He added: "Looking at the fixtures ahead there's a lot of one-day cricket and Twenty20 cricket which hamstrings you a little in trying to get back into the Test team."

Once that one-day schedule is completed, Bell does have two further championship matches to impress - and a fixture at Edgbaston starting just a week before the first Ashes Test in Cardiff between Warwickshire and an England XI.

England's recent run of injuries would suggest another opportunity will present itself and Bell has not given up hope of facing Australia in the Ashes again this summer.

"It's a long summer and there's a lot of cricket coming up," said Bell. "Just because I'm not picked in this Test match now doesn't mean I won't be playing in the Ashes and I've got to keep believing that I can and believe if I keep scoring the runs then I've got a chance of playing.

"The message I got coming back from the West Indies was to score big hundreds and make sure you hit the ground running, which is what I thought I'd done so I thought I was in a good position, but I now have to keep working and keep scoring runs in county cricket."