 Vaughan and Bell both want the number three role this summer
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England announce their first Test squad of the summer on Wednesday, with huge interest surrounding the identity of the man to bat at number three.
Owais Shah has failed to cement the role, despite chances in the Caribbean, so it could be a straight fight between Ian Bell and Michael Vaughan.
Key all-rounder Andrew Flintoff will miss the two Tests against West Indies, starting on 6 May at Lord's.
So wicketkeeper Matt Prior could bat at six in a side containing five bowlers.
Ravi Bopara, one of several England players to have spent the opening weeks of the season in South Africa with the Indian Premier League, will nevertheless hope to get a place in the squad at the very least - having been dropped after scoring a century in Barbados.
The Test squad was set to have been announced on 20 April but the panel, comprising new coach Andy Flower, national selector Geoff Miller, plus James Whitaker and Ashley Giles, opted to watch another round of County Championship matches first.
Bell, yet to score a Test century in 16 Tests at number three, was dropped during the winter tour of the Caribbean but has since scored two centuries for Warwickshire.
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606: DEBATE
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Former England captain Vaughan had been tipped to regain his place but failed to score notable runs in his first two first-class innings.
The 34-year-old did make his highest score for Yorkshire since September 2007, however, when he struck four fours and three sixes in 82 from 116 balls in a 50-over match against Sussex at Headingley on Sunday.
Vaughan also has a far better record against Australia than Bell, who has never made a century against cricket's toughest opponents.
Bell, 27, told BBC Sport: "Michael Vaughan's record speaks for itself. Of course I can see both sides of the argument.
"I feel in a pretty good place. I've enjoyed coming back to Warwickshire, training hard and scoring the amount of runs I probably needed to to get myself back in the position to get selected. I have given myself the best chance I can to push my position.
"The message I got was to go away and score big hundreds. I've done that."
He said that he had spent his two months on the sidelines in the West Indies boxing on the beach at 6am most days with ECB security adviser Reg Dickason.
"I've been guilty in the past of getting fifties and not going on to get hundreds, so fitness is an area which could help me," said Bell.
"You can get a little bit complacent at times. It was a tough time to watch everyone else but probably I was a bit lucky to have those two months to sit back and think about what I needed to do to get back and get picked by England.
"I still average over 40 but I knew I hadn't performed for three months. When you don't perform as a team there has to be someone who is left out of the side and it was my time.
"By no imagination do I think I have cracked it but I believe I am going to play for England again and my best years are ahead of me."
If England do go with five bowlers, Stuart Broad and James Anderson are certainties, while Steve Harmison - who did take five wickets for Durham against Yorkshire - is likely to be recalled yet again.
With Flintoff, Amjad Khan and Ryan Sidebottom all injured, Sajid Mahmood, despite taking no wickets in Lancashire's first Championship match of the season, and Dimitri Mascarenhas will also be hopeful of selection.
But seam bowlers have struggled at Lord's in recent years, so England may consider going with two spinners, most likely to be Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar.
Possible England XIII: Strauss (capt), Cook, Vaughan, Bell, Pietersen, Collingwood, Bopara, Prior (wk), Broad, Swann, Anderson, Harmison, Panesar.
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