Alex Hales has made a dramatic return to the England fold having been selected for the T20 World Cup as a replacement for the injured Jonny Bairstow.
The 33-year-old has not featured for his country since a failed recreational drugs test in the summer of the 2019 World Cup led to his banishment from the squad. During his subsequent exile, a “breakdown in trust” was often cited by the captain, Eoin Morgan.
But events have now conspired to bring a fresh opening, through Morgan’s retirement in April and the passing the leadership baton to Jos Buttler, Jason Roy’s slump of form and the freak broken leg suffered by Bairstow playing golf last week.
Hales has remained among the premium batters on the global T20 circuit and with Rob Key stressing he had “served his time” upon being appointed director of England cricket in April, and a place at the T20 World Cup in Australia this October is now his.
Though Key put Hales’ initial omission solely down to cricketing reasons – Bairstow was promoted to fill the opening spot left by Roy, with Lancashire’s Phil Salt the spare opener in the squad – it still required discussions with all parties this week. Those talks were positive, resulting in an end to Hales three-year exclusion from the England set-up.

Comments
Post a Comment