Ian Bell produced an inspired display to put his name in England folklore and help his side to make a solid start against Australia in their Tri-series meeting at Bellerive Oval this morning by posting 303-8.
The Warwickshire batsman became the Three Lions' all-time leading run scorer by reaching 98 not out in Hobart, although he was not finished there as he went on to claim 142 to become just the second player to pass 5,000 one-day runs behind Paul Collingwood.
Bell's glorious knock eventually came to an end when he was caught at long-off by Mitchell Starc, although Moeen Ali also played a big part in racking up the runs.
The left-handed batsman flogged Pat Cummins for three successive sixes in the ninth over to give England a dominant start, while Joe Root (69) also played his part.
Gurinder Sandhu managed to pull things back for Australia by dismissing visiting skipper Eoin Morgan for a golden duck in three balls, while England were unable to post a bigger score having lost six wickets in the last nine overs.
That run included three in the last three deliveries of their innings to yield 51 runs, as Ravi Bopara, Jos Buttler and Chris Woakes were all sent packing.
Daniel Lewis
