Hales hopes to create strong partnership with Cook
London, Aug. 30: England opener Alex Hales is hoping to create a strong partnership with captain Alastair Cook in one- day internationals.
England faced India in the third ODI at Trent Bridge on Saturday seeking to recover from a 133- run loss in the second ODI at Cardiff, where Hales, on his debut, hit 40.
India however, won by six wickets to take a 2- 0 lead in the series even though Hales and Cook posted an 82- run opening partnership in England’s total of 227.
Hales said that he hopes their games can feed off each other and they can get that partnership going, the BBC reported.
As England sought to level the five- match series, Hales is bidding to consolidate on his encouraging start. His second half- century stand with Cook in succession offset an otherwise miserable performance from the home batsmen in the Cardiff defeat.
Cook’s ODI record has come under criticism from former England teammate Graeme Swann but Hales has backed his skipper. Hales said that he really enjoyed the start they had and hopes that there are more of those partnerships to come.
Hales said that Cook was a very technically sound player and he the right one at the top of the order. He added that he hoped the skipper would show everyone in this series what he could do. Hales believed India deserve credit for their skilled and clever bowling at Cardiff but expected them to find it more difficult on a different pitch. He said that the tourists were just very cunning, and added that once he got past 30, they were one step ahead of him.
The batsman felt that it was up to him now to put that right and have that game smartness. He said that England feel a lot more prepared now, and this pitch would be a lot easier to score on and take the game back to the Indian bowlers.