Alex Hales was a regular top white ball player in England until 2019. Credit: AFP/Patrick Hamilton
Alex Hales has announced his full retirement from international cricket, ending his England career from 2011 to last year.
Hales' retirement at 34 means that his last game for England would be last year's T20 World. Cup final against Pakistan at the Melbourne Cricket Ground as England won by five wickets. Although he only made one in the final, he played a decisive role in England's World Cup triumph, including 86 missed matches as England thrashed India by 10 wickets in the semi-final.
The consistency ensured that Hales, who was recalled to compete after Johnny Bairstow broke his leg while playing golf, retired as a World Cup winner. He was England's centerpiece at the 2019 World Cup before being expelled the day before the competition for failing a drug test.
Despite stellar form at the T20 franchise circuit, Hales spent the next three years outside the England squad. Eoin Morgan, captain of England until 2022, said Hales' actions amounted to «a complete breach of confidence». Hales had to wait until Jos Buttler took over from Morgan as skipper before winning a recall.
In all, Hales played 156 times for England across all three formats, including 11 Test matches in 2015 and 2016. The powerful debut played a vital role in the limited-overs team's transformation post-2015. record against Pakistan in 2016, and 147 against Australia in 2018 when England scored 481 out of six. Both pitches were at Trent Bridge, his home ground.
Hales was not part of England's plans for this year's ODI World Championship but was still a strong contender for next year's T20 World Championship in the West Indies and the US. Retirement gives him the opportunity to play in more cricket franchises, although England are now comfortable with players skipping two-way games to play in overseas leagues. Will Jacks and Phil Salt are among the young England internationals who could challenge for first place in the T20, while Harry Brook could also be used there.
«It has been an absolute privilege to represent my country 156 times in all three formats,» Hales said in a statement. “I have memories and friends for a lifetime and I feel that now is the right time to move on.
low falls. It's been an incredible journey and I'm very happy that my last game for England was winning the World Cup final.»
Wasted talent? Hales found the ultimate answer to this stupid insult. World Cup Winner. The greatest testament to Hales' talent is the feeling that if this moment hadn't come, his career would have seemed a little unfulfilled. Hales returned to the team and won the T20 World Cup with England last November. Photo: SURJEET YADAV/AFP via Getty Images
Despite all his achievements in international cricket, including the World Cup centenary against Sri Lanka in 2014, which arguably remains England's top T20 100, setting a new England record for ODI points and scoring 147 against Australia at Trent Bridge in 2018, Hales often focuses more on when he wasn't on the team than when he was. Until 2014, England didn't take Hales to their 50+ team when he was the #1 batsman in the T20 world: the epitome of their archaic mindset. An incident in Bristol in 2017 cost him an automatic place on the ODI side. Failed drug tests in 2019 cost him first place in the World Championships; he remained an outcast for three wasted years.
Two months last fall transformed Hales' legacy. First, he was excluded from the England T20 Football Team. But after Johnny Bairstow broke his leg in a golfing accident, England recalled Hales, acknowledging that they could not do without his excellence as a rookie and special pedigree in Australia. When he was initially expelled, Hales called Rob Key, Managing Director of England, to inquire about the decision: it was a sign of his frustration at being ignored even if it had nothing to do with his recall.
Back on the side, Hales began a partnership with Jos Battler. Although he won half a century after his international comeback, Hales's form waned. But he and England knew that his recall would depend on how he performed at the decisive stages of the World Cup.
As in 2019, England's indifferent start needed to win the last four matches to win the World Cup. Three years earlier, Hales had been absent; he was now one of the most important figures in their run. His opportunities against New Zealand and Sri Lanka as he made 52 and 47 showed all the T20 prowess Hales had accumulated in his three years as a T20 specialist. He used his legs to create corners against the fast New Zealanders, including running Tim Southey over the head for six. Realizing that England needed to get the upper hand in a run chase against Sri Lanka before the spinners got out, Hales scored 42 from 19 powerplay balls, attacking with selfless energy.
Hales knocks Tim Southey out of six in a row at the T20 World Championship. Credit: Bradley Canaris/Getty Images
It was the prelude to Hales' perfect day. Before the semi-final against India in Adelaide, Hales shot under par on the golf course. After India posted 168 points at The Adelaide Oval, Hales left, believing that India was «probably missing 20 or 30».
By the time Hales finished, India's valuation looked a lot easier. Hales and Buttler helped England reach 63 after a power play. In the next over, Hales narrowly beat Ravichandran Ashwin by six points, aiming for Adelaide's short square borders. The six next door, by Aksar Patel, distilled so that Hales won't hold back.
«Definitely not: not when you don't lose, you're so well tuned, and you» I have good match- up with Ashwin screwing it into you, with a rather short border of a square,” he explained to me. “I would be angrier with myself if I came forward with a cutting edge trying to squeeze a single; I play my best cricket when I want to attack.”
These words can be doubled as a description of the whole England mantra in limited overs cricket since 2015. And so, after his thunderous 86, not backed up by England's 10-wicket win over India, it's likely that the man who was once a trailblazer will get the final denouement. For anyone who would like to consider Hales a lost talent, winning the World Championship in front of 80,000 people, including close family and friends, at the MCG was the ultimate answer.
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