Bell believes Durban Test ton has saved his England career

Durban (S. Africa), Dec. 30 : England middle-order batsman Ian Bell believes his knock of 141 in the second Test against South Africa here, has saved his career in international cricket.

The Warwickshire batsman admitted his hundred may have saved his England career after a troubled year where he was dropped in the West Indies and only reinstated due to Kevin Pietersen's Achilles surgery.

"It was definitely a career-saving knock for me. I knew I was under the pump a little bit and needed an innings to save my place. It has been a hard 12 months, I've been in and out of the side, working hard and at times found the results weren't coming. But I went back to Warwickshire and carried on working and this knock was the result of that," The Mirror quoted Bell, as saying.

"I hadn't scored a hundred this year. It was nice to get a big one that gave us enough scoreboard pressure to get those wickets," he added.

England needed just four more today to record their first innings victory over South Africa for 45 years.

--ANI