'Focus and reset' - the bracelets keeping Bell on track

Lauren Bell wears two bracelets every time she plays for England.

They are home-made - one says "focus" and the other says "reset" - and they form a small part of Bell's rapid development from promising youngster to attack leader in the space of three years.

The 24-year-old is preparing for her first 50-over World Cup, being played in India and Sri Lanka, and goes into it as one of the game's in-form seamers.

Since the start of 2024, she has been England's most consistent pace bowler with 24 wickets in 16 one-day internationals at an economy rate a fraction above five runs per over. She also finished as The Hundred's leading wicket-taker with 19 scalps in nine matches.

Bell has an infectious optimism, an endearing love of her craft and is impressively clear in what makes her tick.

"I learned quite quickly in cricket that I really need to focus to get the best out of myself - I can get distracted and I can drift quite quickly," Bell told BBC Sport.

"As a bowler, things can change so fast so a bad ball can suddenly make a bad over, a bad over can turn into a bad spell.

"So when I was changing my action last summer, I made myself some bracelets with key words on them - it might sound a bit silly, but it's really taught me clarity, how to win the next ball and see that the best thing as a bowler is you always have the opportunity to come out on top and to win the over or the battle."

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The previous 50-over World Cup took place in New Zealand in 2022, before Bell had debuted internationally, but she was taken as a travelling reserve having started the winter in Australia with England A.

It ended with Bell bored and alone in quarantine, when the rest of the squad had gone home, having contracted Covid-19. It is, therefore, of little surprise that she is keen to make her mark on the latest edition when England get their campaign under way against South Africa on Friday.

"It is crazy," said Bell, when asked about the trajectory of her career since that tournament.

"Looking back [to 2022], even just being a reserve, it was way beyond my expectations.

"To see how far I've come and how quickly everything has moved, and the responsibility I've got to opening the bowling and sometimes leading the attack, I have loved it all."

Bell's main strength when she first emerged in international cricket was her ability to swing the ball extravagantly into the right-handed batter, but she spent most of 2024 remodelling her action to add more strings to her bow.

Now swinging the ball both ways and with canny variations in pace, Bell is England's strike powerplay bowler and her confidence when bowling in that phase - often seen as one of the most difficult - shows the belief and strength in her mental approach to the game.

"You're obviously bowling at the best batters, but I look at it the other way in that I'm the new-ball bowler, I get to swing the ball, so you know it's a huge chance for wickets," said Bell.

"In my head, it's the best time to bowl. My mindset is that this is an opportunity for me to set up a game.

"I love opening the bowling, I love that it presents me with an opportunity for wickets rather than fearing that they might see it as an easy time to score boundaries."

Head coach Charlotte Edwards left experienced seamer Kate Cross out of England's squad, meaning extra responsibility has shifted to Bell's shoulders in the pace attack with Em Arlott and Lauren Filer as the other frontline seamers, and captain Nat Sciver-Brunt playing as an all-rounder.

The conditions in Guwahati, where England will play their opener against South Africa, have been extremely humid and will be challenging, as all teams experienced during last year's T20 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates.

For Bell, who could be opening the bowling with spinners and therefore having little time for rest, this has been a consideration.

"We've done so much work on that behind the scenes that nobody would've seen," she said.

"During The Hundred we did all these running sessions, top-up sessions after games and that's the bit nobody will see.

"Especially for me as a seamer, I want to make sure that I'm bowling as fast as I can in the last over of the tournament as I am in the first."

It may be Bell's first World Cup, but she could be one of England's most important players in it.

From the boredom in quarantine to the first ball in Guwahati, it has been a remarkable rise.