I’ll pass this test
ALEX HALES believes he can become England’s answer to David Warner and Chris Gayle by transferring big runs in limited-overs cricket to the Test arena.
The 25-year-old opener will play his second one-day international on his home ground of Trent Bridge today as England look for a victory against India which will level the five-match series at 1-1 with two games to go.
Hales was England’s top scorer with 40 during the abject 133-run defeat in Cardiff on Wednesday.
And as well as insisting he can develop a productive opening partnership with captain Alastair Cook ahead of next year’s World Cup, Hales is confident he can stake his claim for a place in the Test team with good performances over the next six months in one-day cricket.
Hales earned his ODI call-up following a deluge of runs for Nottinghamshire this summer, including three Championship centuries which has left him poised to replace the out-of-form Sam Robson for England’s next Test series in the West Indies in April.
“It’s always been my dream to play Test cricket,” said Hales. “That’s going to come with a lot more hard work and it’s going to start this winter by showing I can score hundreds on the big stage.”
Just like Australia’s big hitter Warner and West Indies master blaster Gayle, Hales believes he has the potential to convert his expansive technique in the shorter formats to the Test stage. “There are people around the world who have shown it – Warner, Gayle, Virender Sehwag, those guys are attacking opening batsmen,” he said.
“There is space for it. But it’s going to come with a lot of hard technical work, and that’s up to me.”
Hales’ promotion to the 50-over side follows a profitable start to international T20 cricket in which he is the only England player to have scored a century.
That unbeaten 116 came against Sri Lanka at the World T20 in March and Hales is hoping to make up for lost time after his long-overdue entrance to the one-day set-up.
The London-born batsman has come a long way from the start of the summer, when he was loaned to Worcestershire after an underwhelming 2013 when he averaged just 13.94 in first-class cricket. He has not looked back since being recalled by his parent county, scoring 926 first-class runs at 54.47.
England are expected to make just one change, with fast bowler Steve Finn set to return in place of Chris Jordan.
Ambati Rayudu is likely to come into the India team for Rohit Sharma, who has been ruled out of the series with a fractured finger.