Bell picked to replace Pietersen in one-day side

Pietersen’s retirement from limited-overs internationals left team director Flower searching for a replacement ahead of the three-match ODI series against the West Indies.

He announced his squad yesterday upon the conclusion of the Test series against the same opposition, with the vacant place going to Bell, who made a fluent unbeaten 76 in the drawn third Test at Edgbaston.

The Warwickshire batsman is the only player in the 14-man party who was not involved in England’s most recent 4-0 series victory over Pakistan in February and will be expected to take on the role at the top of the order in which Pietersen finished his ODI career.

Flower said: “It is safe to assume he (Bell) will open. We don’t want him to do a similar job to Pietersen, we want him to be Ian Bell and play great international cricket.

“He’s a very experienced cricketer, even though he’s only 29 or 30. He’s got a lot of international experience and he’s in great form, very confident at the moment.

“You saw some of that form and skill (on Sunday). With the two new white balls we want great quality batsmen up front and he is one of those.

“He’s really good quality. We believe he can form a successful partnership with (Alastair) Cook. Of course there are alternatives and we’ve considered them very carefully.

“But we believe the man who has got the best chance of making it a success against two new white balls is Ian Bell. I’m really excited to see him take up that challenge.”

The ODI series gets under way this Saturday at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton with the one-off Twenty20 international taking place at Trent Bridge on June 24.

England NatWest Series squad: Cook (Essex, capt), Anderson (Lancashire), Bairstow (Yorkshire), Bell (Warwicks), Bopara (Essex), Bresnan (Yorkshire), Broad (Notts), Dernbach (Surrey), Finn (Middlesex), Craig Kieswetter (Somerset), Morgan (Middlesex), Patel (Nottis), Swann (Notts), Trott (Warwicks).

England Twenty20 squad: Broad (Notts, capt), Bairstow (Yorkshire), Bopara (Essex), Bresnan (Yorkshire), Briggs (Hampshire), Buttler (Somerset), Dernbach (Surrey), Finn (Middlesex), Hales (Notts), Kieswetter (Somerset), Morgan (Middlesex), Patel (Notts), Swann (Notts).