By Rob Hodgetts

Bell is turning into a very, very high-class cricketer Dougie Brown

Cricket is a team game, but on a personal level the 2005 Ashes series left England's Ian Bell with plenty of food for thought.

Although Bell shared in the public celebration of a 2-1 triumph over Australia, and was rewarded with an MBE for his efforts, it did not hide the fact that he averaged only 17 from 10 innings.

A year on, however, he will face Australia again as a more grown up and confident cricketer after being named the ICC's Emerging Player of the Year.

The accolade followed three hundreds in consecutive Tests against Pakistan during the summer and he completed his preparations for the Ashes with another against South Australia in England's final warm-up game.

Bell will have the crucial number three role, but does he have the mental resolve to withstand the likes of Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne and a patriotic, boisterous and, at times, abusive Australian crowd?

The answer, according to Warwickshire team-mate Dougie Brown, an ex-England and Scotland international and former coach of Namibia, is yes.

"He has come back a very, very good player, not just a very good domestic player but world class," Brown told BBC Sport.

"I'm looking for very big things from him this winter as I'm sure England are."

Belly always been quite outspoken that he wanted to bat number three and it may be to his advantage Dougie Brown

Bell has averaged 51.18 since the Ashes, a revival based on the continual development of an already sound technique, a new-found willingness to dominate and score runs and the final realisation that he is good enough to play for England.

"Belly now appreciates that he belongs," said Brown. "He doesn't have to prove to himself, first and foremost, that he should be in the England side.

"He has been the mainstay of England's batting in the middle of the innings, he has learnt from the difficult times and has developed a game that has allowed him to spend lots of time in the middle.

"Mentally he's very happy with his life, he's matured a lot as a person, matured a lot technically and I just think he's turning into a very, very high-class cricketer."

Bell was England under-19 captain before making his senior debut against West Indies at The Oval in 2004.

But there was no hiding place against Australia and he only managed double figures three times, with a best of 65.

Brown, though, believes Bell's performance in the field played an integral part in England winning the Ashes and helped contribute to his new-found belief.

"Take his batting away from it - his fielding was exceptional," said Brown.

"He took some blinding catches that got England from some fairly precarious situations into match-winning ones, and that, in many regards, has helped him mentally."

BELL'S TEST RECORD 18 matches 1,287 runs, average 47.66 5x100, 7x50 Highest score 162 not out

Brown thinks any jibes directed at Bell will be "water off a duck's back" and that he will flourish even more from batting higher up the order, even though his prolific run-haul this year has come from number six.

"Belly always been quite outspoken that he wanted to bat number three and it may be to his advantage," said Brown.

"He will be able to do what comes naturally, he won't be coming out to bat straight away against Shane Warne. That's difficult for anybody, let alone a youngster on the international scene."

Brown also insists that Bell and England could use the opposition crowd to their advantage.

"There's nothing like a decent performance to shut anybody up," said Brown. "England are very well drilled and will have talked about this.

"If they see continued success in the first two or three Test matches they will take a massive positive from the fact that the Australian public are trying to get stuck in and are not actually managing to achieve anything by doing it.