England Cricket / Ralph Ellis / 25 November 2009 /

England batsman has spent plenty of time in the gym adding steel to his technique in the hope of strengthening his game ahead of the Test series

I've met Ian Bell about five times now, the last occasion being for Betfair's Big Interview series, and every time come away thinking: "What a nice bloke". He's always seemed relaxed, ambitious, humble and honest about himself and his batting. And it always leaves me wondering whether "nice" and "successful" are two words that can ever go together at the top of international sport.

Certainly it's the criticism that has always been applied to the Warwickshire batsman that he doesn't often enough take the opposition by the throat. He gets good starts, but then gets out. He doesn't turn 50s into hundreds. And despite a top score in Test cricket of 199 he doesn't make enough of what the professionals call "big hundreds". In short, he's a bit of a softy when the top sportsmen, however nice they might be off the field, are hard b*****ds on it.

That last time we met he'd just hit that 199 against South Africa at Lord's, and was talking about how he wanted to take hold of the number three slot for England both in Test cricket and the One Day games. Instead he lost form and favour and found himself getting dropped, returning only to play a bit part in the Ashes series last summer. Again the perception was that he'd not been hard enough to really seize a second chance.

So it was fascinating to pick up this morning's Daily Mail and learn that Bell has been preparing for another Test series in South Africa by working not in the nets but at a Mixed Martial Arts gym in Coventry. An Aston Villa supporter, he's turned to one of Birmingham City's most infamous hard-man football fans for help to get toughened up. Bell, it appears, has been doing heavy gym sessions under the eye of former cage fighter Barrington Patterson.

The workouts include boxing, kicking, grappling, and just about anything and it's clear the 27-year-old has taken on the advice about needing to be harder.

"It's seriously hard training and I'm trying to get as fit as I can for the Tests," says Bell.

"Mentally you've got to be ready to get stuck into a fight, because that's what it's going to be in South Africa".

Bell's determination to revive his career is a sign of the increased competition for places in England's batting line-up that Jonathan Trott's arrival has created. And if a change of attitude has helped him then there's no doubt he's got the potential to make big runs. Bell is interestingly priced at [9.0] to be England's top scorer in the Test series and has certainly got the talent to make that bet pay off if he's now going to add toughness to technique.

England's bowling remains a big worry, but when you look at the batting line-up there's starting to be genuine cause for optimism, especially if Stuart Broad can stay fit. On the back of a successful Ashes summer, Andrew Strauss's team are a long price at [4.6] to win the Test series. I'm just wondering if I'm hard enough to take a gamble on that!

Five things you might not know about former cage fighter Barrington Patterson

1. Born in Coventry in 1965, his family are Birmingham City fans

2. He lost the sight of one eye when his sister threw a hot cup of tea at him in an argument

3. According to Kate Kray's book Diamond Geezers he was a football hooligan. He has worn a Birmingham shirt to fight nights with the word Zulu - Birmingham's notorious hooligan gang

4. He had eight professional Mixed Martial Arts fights, winning half of them

5. He's just been the subject of a Danny Dyer documentary profiling him as one of "Britain's hardest men"

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