Australian media has claimed that chairman of selectors John Inverarity could be responsible for Australia's ills this year in the Ashes, along with the problem of the prolific run scoring of Ian Bell, and the batsman even thanked him for it.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Inverarity recognised Bell's natural ability when coach of Warwickshire, who he steered to the County Championship title in 2004 and the former headmaster also brought the then emerging talent to spend a season, in the summer of 2003/04 with his club side, the University of Western Australia, which Bell says was key to his development.
Bell played his first Test for England six months later, at the age of 22, against the West Indies at the Oval, the report said.
The batsman even said on Inverarity's influence on his career, that it had a positive impact not only on his cricket but also on his lifestyle skills and things like that.