Matthew Bell might do well over the next few days to stay within earshot of a telephone.

When Bell posted his third century in four Shell Trophy games today for Wellington against Central Districts at McLean Park, Napier - as he helped Wellington to 269-5 after they had been asked to bat - he made an application for the attention of the national selectors they might soon be forced to acknowledge.

Bell batted 292 minutes today for 117, adding that score to innings of 109 against Central Districts and 134 against Canterbury, both compiled at the Basin Reserve before Christmas, and to his 82 runs (70 and 12) from two knocks against Otago. He now has 442 runs from five Trophy innings this season at an average of 88.4 and he has compiled six first-class centuries, including two double hundreds.

The only thing that went wrong today for Matthew Bell - he lost the toss - also ended up favouring the Wellington captain. He would have batted had he won the toss and he was secretly delighted when his opposite Jacob Oram called correctly then invited to do so anyway.

Oram had to manage an attack heavily stacked with medium pacers - he has five and only one spinner, Glen Sulzberger - and it may have been that which encouraged him to try to use any life that may have been in the pitch at the start of the first day.

There was a little but the Central bowlers - Oram used all six before lunch - often strayed from a good length and that allowed the Wellington openers to first establish themselves then to prosper. Oram can only have cringed when Wellington went to lunch, after a morning session with had twice and briefly been affected by rain, at 78-0. By tea, they had lost only the wicket of Jones for 68 and Bell was poised on 98.

Jones batted 206 minutes and hit eight fours and a six in an innings which was a perfect support to Bell. Generally Jones is the more fluent scorer, particularly early in his innings, but today Bell was always ahead of him, reaching his half century in the 37th over from 101 balls (when Wellington was 101) while Jones reached the same mark two overs or 11 minutes later from 125 balls (when the total was 113).

Jones' most lavish scoring shot was a pulled six over square leg from the young medium pacer Taraia Robin but it was Robin who had the last laugh. He returned to claim Jones, caught and bowled, in the 53rd over when Bell was 78 and Wellington was 149.

When Bell went to his 100, he had batted 255 minutes, faced 189 balls and hit 12 fours, most abrupt pulls and cuts square of the wicket. He chided himself - tossing his bat in the air - when he was out, bowled by Glen Sulzberger, 33 balls later, after batting eight minutes less than three hours and hitting 13 fours.

"It was very pleasing to get another hundred but I'm just disappointed I couldn't go on and get a really big score," Bell said. "I wanted to go on and get 150 or 200 and that's the next barrier for me."

But Bell was pleased that he continued a high conversion rate of 50s to 100s and that his centuries this season have all been made in the first innings, contributing to substantial teams totals which have given Wellington control of their games. Wellington haven't lost a match this season in which Bell has made 100 and for that reason they lead the Shell Trophy.

The only disappointment for Wellington today was that they lost two wickets in the last two overs and finished five down, when they might only have been three down.

Bell had added 63 for the second wicket with Selwyn Blackmore before his own dismissal and their followed a brief stand between Blackmore and Grant Donaldson before Blackmore was out for 38. But Chris Nevin was out, lbw to Robin for 15 in the 99th over and Matthew Walker was caught by Martin Sigley from Sulzberger on the last ball of the day. Wellington went from 268-3 to 269-5 while Donaldson stayed not out 25.

Most importantly, the pull generated by Bell's form, which is so consistent it has become irrestible, must now forcibly awaken several principles of national selection.

While the national selectors can never be compelled to pick a player on Trophy form alone - they have to weigh his suitability and past record in international cricket, the credentials of others, the balance of their side. But nor can they be seen to ignore the domestic first class competition as a conduit to the international game.

No player in New Zealand this season has been in better form with the bat that Bell and a point must be reached when he earns some, even tacit form of acknowledgement.

The Wellington captain, who hasn't heard yet the phone call which may express the selectors' interest, wasn't thinking along those lines last night.

"I'm happy with my game and what I'm doing for Wellington," he said. "All I can do is concentrate on my own performance and at the moment I'm happy performing for Wellington. It's the same only story, if I score the runs they can't not pick me.

"I just have to get on with things. I talk to the players, as captain, about doing this and that and it's good to be able to go out and do what I'm talking about. You shouldn't talk the talk if you can't walk the walk."

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