Over the last few episodes of the Wisden Cricket Weekly Podcast, our panel have reflected on times when cricketers have had a day out in their secondary discipline.

There was Jonathan Trott, who took 7-39, and Alastair Cook, who turned a Championship match on its head back in 2005. On this week’s show, Wisden Cricket Montly magazine editor Jo Harman called up Ian Bell, a former England teammate of the pair, who had his own virtuoso performance to discuss: a haul of 4-4 against Middlesex at Lord’s courtesy of his medium pace.

Jo Harman: You surprised us a bit. Your career-best figures are 4-4 at Lord’s in 2004. You took four of the last five wickets to fall, including Lance Klusener for a golden duck.

Ian Bell: I think I got him out twice…

JH: You did! You got him lbw in the second innings as well. So you remember all this, do you?

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IB: Vaguely, vaguely remember it. It must have been a flat wicket as well because Nick Knight got a triple-hundred. I think I got a hundred as well…

As we declared all the clouds rolled in again and it started to go all over the shop again. So I had a little help I suppose with the overhead conditions at Lord’s but, yeah, I was horrible to face. I’d bowl myself out so much…

JH: Kind of like a Darren Stevens, but a bit less skillful…

IB: Yeah, I feel for Darren Stevens if you’re mentioning me in that category. He’s been doing it for a while. But yeah it wasn’t particularly nice. I might have even been on a couple of hat-tricks in that four-for. Lord’s has changed so much over the last couple of years, it used to be one of the flattest wickets you could imagine in the domestic game. It’s a little bit harder these days with Tim Murtagh running up the hill.

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