On a pleasant day in May 2022, as this correspondent scrolled through sports channels, a little bit of cricket action aroused some interest. It was a Kia Super League between Southern Vipers and Lancashire Lightning. Lightning, who were pursuing a target of over 150, lost a couple of wickets upfront. The bowler who took those two scalps with the new ball was none other than the tall, lean seamer, Lauren Bell. Among those two wickets, the one that echoes from the storehouse of memory is the nip-backer to castle Sarah Bryce as the length was near-perfect and the inward movement was sharp.
Time flies. Four years later, Bell isn’t just the spearhead of the England pace attack, but she is also one of the leading figures of RCB’s unbeaten charge in the 2026 WPL.
From largely an inswing bowler, she can now move it both ways, thanks to tweaks in her action. She has also added a yard of pace and is extracting more bounce. Bell also seems to know when to pull the length back and when to go fuller. Amidst those changes, one salient feature has remained the same: Bell’s ability to hit a short of a length or good length and in the corridor of uncertainty more often than not. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that in this season’s WPL, she has bowled 27 dots in the Powerplay overs.
Amelia Kerr, the Mumbai Indians all-rounder, would vouch for Bell’s discipline in the Powerplay overs. The New Zealand cricketer couldn’t seem to lay her bat on any of the outswingers. Eventually, Kerr accumulated only four runs before falling to Bell. Meanwhile, Gujarat Giants’ Ashleigh Gardner attempted to take on Bell’s short-of-a-length offerings with a dance down the wicket. All she could do was to eke out an edge to the ‘keeper. The extra bounce of Bell doing the damage.
Bell’s value to the RCB side can be measured by her mind-numbing economy rate of 4.92. Incidentally, in the list of top-10 wickets in the 2026 WPL, she is the only one who has an economy rate of under 6. No wonder, Smriti Mandhana, the RCB skipper, said this about her strike bowler’s bowling prowess to the host broadcaster: “In the last two matches, she has not let anyone touch the ball in the first three overs. I feel she can continue doing that and set the tone for us.”
The backstory to Bell’s success has been how she has made her remodelled action work – From being a front-on bowler to more of a side-on action. The tweaks were done, so that she could be better at back-foot-to-front-foot transition and maximising her height. These are not small changes. So much so that certain pace bowlers may keep searching for rhythm for the rest of their careers after remodelling their respective actions.
Bell, however, is cut from a different cloth. Bell didn’t just adjust to a different way of bowling, but she is also reaping the rewards with wickets and precious dots. The promising cricketer who impressed for Southern Vipers all those years ago has indeed become a thoroughbred.
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