WARWICKSHIRE will wait as long as possible before deciding whether to risk England batsman Ian Bell in tomorrow’s Royal London Cup final against Durham at Lord’s.

Although he hasn’t yet appeared in the competition the Bears want to give him every chance as he has played in four Lord’s finals and never scored less than a half-century, averaging 76.75. He made a century when they beat Somerset in the CB 40 final in 2010.

Bell has been out of action for three weeks with a broken toe and although the England hierarchy have given him permission to play they would not be happy if he aggravated the injury.

Durham’s John Hastings has admitted that he is “absolutely gutted” to miss the final, especially after he was left out of the Chennai Superkings side for the opening Champions League match in India on Wednesday.

With 14 wickets, the Australian played a key role in Durham’s passage to Lord’s, with his best figures of five for 46 coming in the group game against Warwickshire.

Hastings is very keen to return next season, telling the club’s website: “I am very thankful for the opportunity I was given at this brilliant club.

“Everybody has made me and my wife more than welcome, I have had an amazing time and met some people that will be friends for life.

“The culture of the club is one that I would love to be spending more time in and around, and I’d like to say a very big thank you to all the Durham supporters, who have been outstanding. I can see what it means to everyone to have a successful club.”

After playing in only one of Chennai’s ten games in the Indian Premier League, Hastings arrived on the last day of May and in all competitions he played in 26 matches and took 65 wickets.

“I’m very proud of my own performances and I am just glad I could contribute,” he said. “I would love nothing more to come back and push for silverware with the lads next year.

“It really hurts not to be going to Lord’s with guys I have so much respect for. I will be staying up through the night and won’t miss a ball.”

Durham also play Warwickshire at Edgbaston in their final championship game starting on Tuesday and will be without Calum MacLeod and Peter Chase.

Along with reserve wicketkeeper, Stuart Poynter, they are in the Scotland and Ireland squads who will jet out to Australia early next week to train and play in a number of one-day fixtures in preparation for the 2015 Cricket World Cup.

Chase recently made his first-class debut against Nottinghamshire and took five for 64 in the second innings.

He has since taken six more wickets in two appearances to stand near the top of the national bowling averages.