Ian Bell is by a distance the most experienced one-day international among the World Cup hopefuls on England's tour of Sri Lanka, but insists his urge to improve is as strong as ever.

Bell's 148 caps put him fifth in England's all-time list and, in the absence of the injured James Anderson here, at least 40 clear of his closest pursuer, Ravi Bopara, in the squad selected for the seven-match series, which will get under way tomorrow.

Captain Alastair Cook, three years Bell's junior, is 62 caps adrift.

In addition, Bell needs only 139 runs to become just the second Englishman to reach 5000 in ODIs after Paul Collingwood, England's most capped player in 50-over cricket.

It all adds up to a world-class career but not a world-beating one, because in keeping with most of his contemporaries Bell has no global trophy on his CV.

The unpromising reality, in fact, is that not only have England managed just the isolated 2010 ICC World Twenty20 success in almost 40 years of vain effort in major limited-overs tournaments, but have apparently regressed in the past year - with one ODI series victory, also in the Caribbean last spring, interrupting a succession of defeats.

Bell nonetheless remains optimistic of a much-needed win here against opponents marginally above them in the International Cricket Council rankings, to kick-start progress to the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand early next year.

"That's the facts, isn't it? That's where we are," said Bell, scheduled to bat at number three against Sri Lanka behind Cook and his new opening partner Moeen Ali.

"We haven't played particularly well in our last one-day series.

"(But) this is a great place to start (improving). To win this series would be a massive bonus for us, building towards that World Cup."

England's current mantra is for individual and collective improvement and a 'fearlessness' so far exemplified by Moeen's rush of boundaries in the Duckworth-Lewis victory over Sri Lanka A three days ago - their only match practice after the second scheduled fixture was washed out.

Senior batsman Bell is happy to buy into it.

He said: "That's the way we want to play ... the way we've got to play, give everything this winter into one-day cricket, and see where we get.

"I know my strike rate has been over 80 in the last two years ... and I want to keep improving.

"It doesn't matter whether you've played one game or a hundred. For me personally, I'm trying to improve my game.

"We've got some guys who've moved the game forward, the way Jos Buttler plays, and I can learn all the time."

There is a consensus, broadly backed up by statistics, that ODI cricket is moving fast - with 300-plus totals increasingly the norm rather than exception.

Bell wants to be part of that.

"The day you don't want to get better is probably the day you don't want to be playing any more," he said.

"I still think for me the best way to play is proper cricket shots, strong shots, using my skill to get the ball around the ground."

England fitted in a morning and late afternoon practice before the rain started falling yet again in Colombo, and they appear resigned to continuing bad weather throughout the tour.

"We're going to be affected by rain at some point in this series, shortened games, so we're going to have to be very flexible about how we approach it," said Bell.

Whatever the limitations in playing time, Moeen's first innings as Cook's new opening partner - in place of Alex Hales, and Bell before him - appears to have given England a lift.

Bell added: "Moeen played brilliantly the other day, got us off to an absolute flier, which was just great for all of us.

"He set the benchmark the way he played and I hope we can kick on from there.

"The good thing is we are flexible. Halesy could easily come in and open the batting; Moeen's done it; I could do it.

"When you're going to a World Cup, you need those options.

"We want to go to a World Cup with 15 players who could all step in at any time."

It is a flexibility which reminds Bell of former glories.

He said: "When we won the Ashes in Australia, in the squad of 16 we had any of them could step into that XI.

"If we're going to win a World Cup, we have to have that kind of squad.

"There's no complacency in the side and the work ethic since we've been here has been incredible.

"That's probably down to (the fact) no one knows what the XI is going to be.

"I'd rather it that way and I'm sure everyone does."

:: Sri Lanka's 15-man squad for the first three ODIs, named on Monday, is most notable for the omissions of former captain Dinesh Chandimal and pace bowler Nuwan Kulasekara.

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