Bethell had cricket in his blood, says ex-teacher

Jacob Bethell's former cricket teacher says it was evident "cricket was in his blood" when he first met him as a Warwickshire schoolboy.

Bethell, 22, brought a silver lining to England's Ashes defeat against Australia with his maiden Test match century.

Michael Powell, a former Warwickshire captain, said the player had joined Rugby School on a cricket scholarship as a 12-year-old and quickly showed his ability and desire to excel.

He identified the "tiny" youngster's talent immediately after throwing a few tennis balls to him inside. "You just saw the flow of the bat that we've seen this week," Powell said.

"That stems from the environment that he was brought up in and quite simply a ball on a string on his veranda overlooking Barbados and that's where he was every morning, every afternoon, every evening, hitting that ball."

Powell described himself as one of a number of "facilitators" who had been there to "shape and support" the player on his journey.

"You could see cricket was in his blood, cricket was part of his family," he said.

He believes Bethell honed his batting ability while facing taller opponents in Barbados.

"Most of the deliveries he faced were in his upper half," he said. "So he had to develop a way to cope with that, which he did naturally because that's all he faced.

"That's been telling this week because he dealt with that. He plays that really well.

"Once you've got that and that belief that you can cope with the most dangerous weapon a fast bowler has, then you can deal with the rest of it.

"It's been a very special week in the Bethell household and I think we've all seen live what it's meant to Jacob himself out in the middle and also his family."

Bethell is now the fifth man to score his first first-class hundred in a Test for England.

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