Ian Bell equals David Gower's 'stunning' Ashes record with 'enjoyable' third century

Ian Bell's unbeaten 105, in the second innings of the fourth Ashes Test at Durham, has made him only the third England batsman to score three centuries in a home Ashes series, after Maurice Leyland in 1934 and David Gower in 1985.

According to The Guardian, Bell also became only the ninth England batsman to score 20 Test centuries, following Kevin Pietersen and Alastair Cook into that exclusive club, as he continued his late-flowering purple patch against Australia.

After playing 30 Ashes innings without reaching three figures, he has now done so four times in his last nine, having broken his duck when England sealed the last series in Sydney in January 2011, the report said.

The batsman said that he had to work very hard in the series, so it was enjoyable to score hundreds and put to bed some of the things from the past, adding that the innings was the best batting of his career but to win the Ashes was also very important.