The Ashes 2013-14: England suffer injuries to Alastair Cook and Ian Bell ahead of curtain-raiser Down Under "I was really happy how the series panned out for me personally and that is what I've been trying to do for a long time in a contest of that sort," Bell said. As a young player growing up you watch Botham's Ashes and you want that to happen to you and to be named the man of the series. Winning the Compton-Miller medal is exactly what I wanted to achieve. It is in a nice little spot at home but there is a bit of space for some more trophies if we're good enough. Top-order runs are vital to Test success in Australia, especially in the first innings. Last time Cook was the main provider, a role Bell believes is crucial even if the identity of the man who fills it is not yet known. "We want somebody with the bat in the top six to have a series like that," Bell said. It was an incredible spell of batting concentration-wise and technique. It is good to have those memories in the bank as a team and one of the top six to go on and score those runs. Cooky did it last time here, I had a good series at home and if one of the top six can have an outstanding winter then we know that, with our bowling, if we get big runs they can take 20 wickets on any surface. If neither Cook nor Broad plays on Thursday, against what is essentially a Western Australia second XI with one guest batsman from Queensland, Chris Lynn, England could use the match to set up head-to-heads between those competing for the two vacancies - Jonny Bairstow and Gary Ballance for the No6 spot and two of Boyd Rankin, Steven Finn and Chris Tremlett for the bowling spot. On Tuesday, all the main bowlers except Broad had multiple spells and there does not appear to be much between the Big Three. It is certainty difficult to recall when England last had such an impressive trio competing for the final spot in the attack, assuming that injury does not account for Broad or James Anderson by the time the first Test comes around on Nov 21. If Broad and Anderson were both to play on Thursday, then on the evidence at the middle practice Rankin would be the one joining them to complete the trident. Although very mechanical of action, he was the quickest of the three tall fast bowlers on display, and dismissed Michael Carberry, who was caught behind by Matt Prior. Rankin outbowled Finn in the recent one-day series against Australia too, but the question England must find the answer to is whether he can sustain both his pace and hostility over the duration of a Test match in what can often be sweltering heat. If they believe he can, it will probably be a straight shootout between him and Tremlett for that final spot. Andy Flower does not appear sentimental but there appears to be strong nostalgic support for Tremlett among England's coaching staff, providing he can bowl like he did three years ago here when he took 17 wickets in the last three Tests. With his injury record that is a big if, but with longevity hardly guaranteed among big fast bowlers maybe that is why England picked three of them. On Tuesday, Tremlett looked dangerous without taking a wicket. Instead, Finn bagged two, including Kevin Pietersen's, albeit with a stroke of fortune after the batsman was caught down the leg-side. The No6 position is likely to be performance based, but only if both men get equal opportunities to succeed. Bairstow, like Pietersen, has the shots to take the game away from the opposition but his habit of falling over straight balls and getting bowled suggests either a weakness unbecoming of a Test match No6 or a naivety that needs to be purged immediately. Ballance comes with impeccable credentials from Yorkshire where he averages more than fifty in both first-class and 50-over cricket. England would probably prefer a left-hander in the middle to break up the right-handers and Ballance should have at least three innings in the next few weeks to prove they have found one.