Ian Bell, the ageing prodigy, gave a rueful smile. This is one of the sweetest timers in cricket but his scores of nought and one in Warwickshire’s most recent championship match, in Taunton last week, had hardly been opportune innings.

So Bell’s much-mooted return to the England fold has not happened and instead he must content himself with the smaller but still considerable glory of leading his county in the Royal London One Day Cup final against Surrey at Lord’s on Saturday.

“I could have still put my name in the hat with England with runs against Somerset,” he insisted. In truth, though, Bell’s form this year has not been good enough to warrant a return to the Test side – he has scored 610 championship runs at 33.89.

The 34-year-old had drifted back into consideration through a combination of the vivid memory of his fine qualities and the failures of James Vince, Nick Compton and Gary Ballance to make an emphatic case for themselves in England’s middle order. That’s why some of the most important people in the England set-up – Andrew Strauss, Trevor Bayliss and James Whitaker – have been speaking with him.

“That didn’t surprise me because I know what I’m capable of doing,” Bell said. “I’ve played 118 Test matches, with 22 hundreds. I’ve been part of five Ashes-winning sides. And that stacks up pretty well with some of the best players we’ve ever had in this country. So I’m very proud of what I’ve achieved. I’ve got some great memories.”

Even though he was not included in England’s winter squads announced on Friday he refuses to write himself off as a Test batsman. “Until they tell me that the door is closed I will be knocking on it,” he said. “But I haven’t really been able to bang that door down and say ‘pick me’ with some big scores.

“I’ve got a lot of starts which I haven’t really converted. It’s not quite happened – it’s been a disappointing red-ball second half of the season. We’ve also played on some average pitches, at best, in the past five games, surfaces where 250 is a good score.”

Bell, who was dropped at the end of last year after averaging 25.95 for England in 2015, is still hoping a recall will come. His hunger was questioned last year, but he said: “At the end of the Ashes series I was running on empty. I wanted a break from the game. I ran out of steam – I put absolutely everything I could into the Ashes, and we were coming off the back of the World Cup.

“I was looking forward to a break but I didn’t want to take an easy option and not go to the UAE. England didn’t tell me they wanted me take a break, and I didn’t want to give up my place in the team.

“But is this the way I would like to finish? No. I would like to have the perfect end, even though not many get to have that dream finish. But I still have the desire to get back – my hunger for runs, for practice and preparation and doing all the things you need to be on the top of your game, are there. I want to finish on the right terms.”

Bell is such a wonderful talent that there are those who – despite his substantial achievements – will not forgive him for failing to become the great player his precocious gifts promised. Ironically, for he is no longer in the frame as a white-ball international player, it is this form of the game that has seen him at his best this year, and he scored a magnificent and unbeaten 94 in Warwickshire’s cup semi‑final win against Somerset.

For the next week Bell is placing England ambitions behind him to play five days of crucial cricket for Warwickshire. “We have played some excellent cricket to get to this one-day final, and now we have to lift ourselves again,” he said. “We’ve got two huge games, this cup final and then the Lancashire fixture at Edgbaston.”

After Lord’s, Warwickshire face a relegation tussle with Lancashire in the championship. “We’re right in the mix at the wrong end of the table,” Bell admitted. “And whatever happens over the next week we’ve got to address where we’re going in four-day cricket.”

Warwickshire’s four-day form has been so inconsistent that the director of cricket, Dougie Brown, is under some pressure. It’s a job that, further down the line, would interest Bell. “I’ve always thought I would like to be director of cricket at Warwickshire one day,” Bell said. “I would like to go into that.

“That’s one reason I took the captaincy on. I really wanted to look at the man management side of the game. Hopefully, one day, I will become coach at Warwickshire. But at the moment I want to play for them and for England for as long as possible.”