Cape Town - Warwickshire batsman Ian Bell remains hopeful of receiving an England recall two-and-a-half years after he played his last Test.
Bell doesn't want to try and get inside the heads of the selectors feeling it best to pour his energy into his performances for his county.
"You can never say never. Who knows what's around the corner?" Bell told theDaily Mail.
"Would it be a backwards step (for the Test team) if someone like me started the season really well?
"With the cricket over the next 18 months would it be a short-term solution? I don't know the answers. It's up to me to produce the goods."
Bell admits that his performances during his time out of the Test arena have not warranted a recall.
He added: "The reality is if I had done it over the past 12-18 months I probably would have had a phone call.
"In a way it's a compliment that people have said I should be in that (Test) side but averaging 30 isn't – and shouldn't be – enough.
"Let's see how I start the season. It's not in the front of my mind to go out there to score runs to get in the England side. It's to go out there to score runs to win games for Warwickshire, and what will be will be."
Incumbent top order men for England James Vince and Mark Stoneman were less than impressive during the outbound tours in the winter each averaging thirty in successive Test series defeat which means that places in the Test squad for the home series against Pakistan and India should be up for grabs.