England retain confidence in Bell

England batsman Ian Bell has been given a vote of confidence ahead of next week's third Ashes Test, with selectors unlikely to add any batting cover.

National selector Geoff Miller said that the 13-man squad for Edgbaston, to be announced on Sunday, will include only extra bowling options.

That paves the way for Bell to return to the team on his home ground in place of the injured Kevin Pietersen.

The Warwickshire batsman was out for a duck against Hampshire on Friday.

Bell also made only seven runs in the first innings of the drawn match at the Rose Bowl, but has been in good form for most of the season.

Prior to his double failure against Hampshire, he had scored 640 runs in seven County Championship matches.

Bell was axed following England's defeat by the West Indies in Jamaica last February, but was named in their 13-man squads for both matches so far in the Ashes series.

The 27-year-old was identified as the next batsman in line by England coach Andy Flower in the aftermath of the second Test victory at Lord's, before Pietersen was ruled out of the rest of the series after undergoing surgery on his Achilles tendon.

Asked about adding extra batting cover, Miller said: "There are no injury problems as such, so we probably won't need to do that.

"We had question marks to cover in the last squad but I don't foresee needing to do that here.

"If we needed to draft someone in for any reason, we know who we would be looking at and have provision to do that at short notice."

Bell will be hoping for a fresh start against Australia, having struggled in his 10 previous Ashes Tests.

He has managed just 502 runs off their attack, at a poor average of 25.10 - compared to an overall Test average of 40.59.