Morgan Hales One-Day return of batsman Alex
EOIN MORGAN, England’s limited-overs captain, has welcomed the return of Alex Hales for the one-day series against Australia in the New Year.
Hales has been included in a 16-man squad after his suspension for his part in the Bristol brawl that saw team-mate Ben Stokes arrested was lifted by the England & Wales Cricket Board this week.
Stokes has also been included on a provisional basis but whether he travels to Australia depends on the verdict of the Crown Prosecution Service on whether he will be charged or not for his part in the altercation that left a man with a fractured eye socket.
Once a decision is made, the England & Wales Cricket Board will decide within 48 hours if he can remain part of the squad.
Hales, though, has been cleared of any wrongdoing by the police and is back available to play having been omitted from the last two ODIs of the English summer against West Indies following events in Bristol.
Whether or not Hales gets back in the team for the fivematch series that starts at the MCG on January 14 remains doubtful given Jason Roy excelled, making scores of 84 and 96, when recalled for those final two ODIs at The Oval and Southampton.
But Morgan is happy the opener is back and believes he will be in the right frame of mind to take on Australia if needed.
“I’m very confident he’ll be able to move on,” said Morgan. “I think that’s dictated by the performances he puts in and the hard work he puts in, but I’ve no doubt his head is in the right space to do that.
“It’s very pleasing to have Alex back, when the news broke it was going to be a boost to the squad in what I think will be a tough series in the New Year and that starts off 2018 for us, which will be quite a significant year for us in growing what we’ve established as a team, and he remains a vital part of that.”
Meanwhile, England may already be 2-0 down in the Ashes series but Mitchell Starc has warned the tourists that Australia’s pace attack hasn’t even got started yet.
Off-spinner Nathan Lyon has been a potent threat during the opening two Tests at Brisbane and Adelaide, taking 11 wickets at 22.72.
Australia’s fast-bowling trio of Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazelwood have put England to the sword and weighed in with 28 wickets between them.
But Starc insists they will be much better for the remaining three Tests, starting in Perth next week.
“The exciting bowling group better,” he said.
“We’ve obviously managed to take 40 wickets in the last couple of weeks and do some really good things, but I think there’s still a lot of room for improvement.
“Gazza [Lyon] is bowling outstandingly at the moment. Josh does what he does and allows Pat and I to bowl as fast as we want.” thing is our can still get