Ashes 2013-14: We just can’t cope with pacemen, admits Ian Bell

Ian Bell admitted England have had no answer to Australia’s bowlers as the home side prepared to reclaim the Ashes tomorrow.

Australia need five more wickets to take a 3-0 lead in the series and win back the urn, with England 251 for five chasing a world-record 504 for what would be one of the most remarkable Test wins in the history of cricket.

Only once have England passed 300 in their five completed innings on this tour and not one player has made a century, compared with seven on the Australian side, and Bell acknowledged the batsmen could not cope with pace trio Mitchell Johnson, Ryan Harris and Peter Siddle.

“Australia have bowled, batted and caught better than we have and that’s what it is about,” said Bell. “We were really excited about the massive challenge ahead but we haven’t shown anyone the cricket we can play.

“We’ve got it in us to do good stuff but we haven’t been able to get it out. Johnson, Harris and Siddle give you no scoring options and it becomes really tough. Pressure like that will create wickets.

“We’ve trained as hard as we always do and done all the right things but sometimes it just doesn’t happen. That’s not a lack of desire, hunger or fight; we’re just not playing the kind of cricket we need to. We’ve spoken honestly about not making big scores in the first innings, which has been happening for a while. We’re aware of it and we’re doing everything we can to get back to good habits.