Notts fans hail record-breaking blaster Hales
ALEX HALES won the battle of the masterblasters as he battered Surrey to defeat – and wrote himself into the record books. England’s ODI opener hammered a magnificent 187 – the highest individual one- day score in a Lord’s final – as he produced a mesmerising knock to see the Outlaws home. I ncredibly, Surrey’s Mark Stoneman had set the standard with an excellent unbeaten 144. And that was second only to Geoff Boycott’s mark, set in 1965, by two runs. But Stoneman found himself overshadowed as England’s white- ball specialist Hales clicked into overdrive. In all, he smashed four sixes and 20 fours during a 167ball innings. And only towards the end was there anything approaching a streaky shot. Hales said: “That’s as good as it gets – it’s right up there. “I knew that if I got in that I would get good value for my shots, and that if I could hang around it could have been one of those days.” And it was. Barring one mistake, his exhibition was simply exquisite. That moment of good fortune arrived after he had just nine to his name – and a simple spill by Ollie Pope at cover will go down as one of the most expensive bloopers ever.
Hales’ knock deserved to send Surrey spinning to their third successive final disappointment in the 50- over domestic format. Without him, Gareth Batty’s men would surely have tasted success.
Surrey would have owed a debt to Stoneman (below), who went out to bat knowing that his claims for inclusion in England’s Test squad had been overlooked.
The left-hander made sure that the selectors sat up and took notice as he set a standard which, on any other day, would have seen him hog the headlines. But only Kumar Sangakkara (30) and Sam Curran (24) offered up any worthwhile support.
However, if anything, Hales had even more pressure on his shoulders. He hit top gear early on – his century came up in the 21st over – and shortly afterwards he lost Brendan Taylor for 11 – the only other player in the Outlaws’ top six to reach double figures.
But he found an ally in veteran skipper Chris Read and together the duo built a sixth- wicket 137- run partnership that proved decisive as Notts claimed a four-wicket win with 13 balls to spare.