Bell has only recorded one half century throughout the entire series

England batsman Ian Bell has declared that his team are still the top Test team, despite being humiliated in the current Test series against South Africa.

England suffered a crushing innings defeat at the hands of South Africa in the first Test at The Oval, before showing some life in the second Test at Leeds, which ended as a draw.

With their less than impressive performance against South Africa, many cricket pundits are wondering whether England’s time as the world number one Test team has come to an end.

When asked what he thought about Dale Steyn’s comments about England being a phoney number one Test side, Bell said: “You don’t just look at the last nine Test matches, you look over the last two or three years. That’s why we’re ranked No1. The points are monitored over a long period of time. It’s been a consistent effort over a long period but there’s no doubt when you see how South Africa played yesterday we’re going to have a real scrap on our hands.”

England must register a win at Lord’s in the final Test match, which starts today, if they are to have any chance of retaining their number one status.

According to Ian Bell, England will not give up their number one spot without a fight.

“We’re all very proud that we’ve got to No1 and we definitely want to stay there for a long period of time. We know this defeat wasn’t good enough but we must not go away thinking we have done well over a long period. We must look at certain issues that we could have done better, and we’re confident we can get back in the series. There’s no doubt that, if we play the cricket we know we can, we can beat South Africa. If we don’t, we know how good they are and they won’t let us back in the game,” Bell said.

“Not one of us enjoyed these last five days and we want to put it right. It was thoroughly disappointing but everyone will be up for it, come next week,” Bell added when asked about how the team dealt with the innings defeat at The Oval.