Hales exclusive
I want to play for my country again
‘I didn’t get the icing on the cake, but I was proud to be a part of it over the four years’
‘I just want to do as well as I can, meet some great people and try to grow as a player’
Alex Hales only wants to look forward. This could – should, really – have been the summer when he was part of England’s squad who lifted the World Cup for the first time. But, rather than dwell on that, he is focused only on what lies ahead.
“It would mean a huge amount to put on an England shirt again and represent my country,” he says in his first national newspaper interview since being omitted from the World Cup squad after a ban for recreational drug use.
“I’m aware of the need to get my head down, and learn from mistakes of the past. I still have a lot to prove to people.”
Hales is reluctant to go over the full events that led to his exclusion from the World Cup, after being named in England’s preliminary squad. He has an England whiteball contract until the end of the summer, and it is understood he is receiving support from the England and Wales Cricket Board and the Professional Cricketers’ Association.
“Now is not the right time,” the 30-year-old says, when we meet at Trent Bridge. “I have to put the past behind me, and focus on an exciting winter ahead, and prove to everyone by weight of runs that I deserve to get back into the England set-up. Whether that’s the 50-over squad, or the T20 squad ahead of an important World Cup next year we will see.”
England’s World Cup victory completed a transformation four years in the making. It was one in which Hales – though he had been first batting reserve even before his exclusion from the squad – played an important role. He was at the forefront of England’s buccaneering new approach after 2015: his 171 against Pakistan at Trent Bridge in 2016 set a thenrecord for England’s highest one-day international score, one of his six ODI centuries.
Hales considers himself to have been a full part of the journey, even if he did not make it to the end.
“I’ve played in my fair share of it. It’s a shame I didn’t get the icing on the cake, but I was proud to be a part of it over the last four years, yeah,” he reflects. “It was a shame to miss out, but the guys deserved to win the World Cup.”
As Hales watched the extraordinary World Cup final, he says that his overriding feeling was “happiness” for the team. “Being part of the last four years has been amazing. Over the last four years we’ve certainly been the best team in the world, so deserved to win that World Cup.”
In the euphoric moments after England’s victory, Hales sent congratulatory messages to several team-mates. Since his exclusion from the squad, he has had regular dialogue with Ashley Giles, the managing director of the England men’s team. But he has had no contact with either limited-overs captain Eoin Morgan or Ed Smith, the national selector.
Hales, who remains eligible for selection, has chatted “bits and bobs with friends and stuff on the team”, and thinks conversations with more senior figures “will happen in the near future once this summer’s gone”. Such discussions will need to work around Hales’s incessant schedule.
He gave up first-class cricket before the 2018 summer, feeling “half-cooked” by switching between the formats.
“I found it really difficult to maintain T20, 50-over and red ball at the top level. I feel like I can do white ball at the top level, but just doing all three – it was difficult to keep it as high as you wanted to.”
Hales remains a keen tennis player. And his new existence, lugging his kit on a tour of the world’s airport departure lounges, more closely resembles a professional tennis player than a traditional cricketer. It is disorientating even recounting Hales’s plans in the months ahead.
First comes the rest of the T20 Blast group stage. Hales has hit two fifties in seven innings for Nottinghamshire so far, but is frustrated that he has “not gone on to get match-winning scores”.
Then, he hopes, will come the quarter-finals, in the first week of next month, after which he will immediately fly to the Caribbean Premier League, where he plays for Barbados. Should Notts reach Finals Day, Hales will fly back before returning to the Caribbean.
After that, Hales will play in South Africa’s Mzansi Super League and the Bangladesh Premier League, and is expected to be retained in the Pakistan Super League. There is also interest from both the Afghanistan Premier League and the Big Bash – though Hales’s other commitments limit his availability for these – and, perhaps, a return to the Indian Premier League, depending on the next auction. From when he leaves for the Caribbean, Hales may spend as little as five days in the
next five months at home. Just as well that he is moving house now.
“It feels like a new chapter,” Hales says. “The biggest thing for me is playing in different countries, in different conditions with different players – it’s brilliant for growing as a player, picking the brains of some of the best players around. It’s still early days in the journey, but so far I’ve enjoyed it.
“I just want to do as well as I can, meet some great people, gel with some different teams and try to grow as a player. I think it’s a really exciting opportunity. I’m getting to go to some amazing places.”
If the attractions of Barbados and Durban make Nottingham seem mundane, helping Notts win the T20 Blast, and repeat their 2017 triumph, would be particularly satisfying. From head coach Peter Moores to club captain Steven Mullaney, the county have been an essential source of support to Hales since being omitted by England.
“This club’s been brilliant over the last few months,” he says. “The place is close to my heart, it’s home now. I moved here when I was 19. It’s a great club, we’re blessed to have high-quality facilities and amazing coaching staff, so walking back into this environment has been brilliant.”
Around Trent Bridge, Hales’s face is ubiquitous on Notts’s T20 promotional posters. “I’m one of the home-grown players here, but because it’s my only format it feels like I’ve got that expectation.”
In the months ahead, expectations will follow Hales far away from Notts. For the Barbados Tridents, Durban Heat and Rangpur Riders, in the Bangladesh Premier League, he has been selected among the first batch of overseas players, meaning he did not even need to enter the draft.
“If you’re a marquee player you have that expectation to score runs and lead from the front.”
It is Hales’s hope that, if he does, it will advance his claims for a recall before next October’s T20 World Cup; he remains England’s top-ranked T20 batsman.
For now, Hales has more modest aims than an international return. “I just want to get back playing as much cricket as I can.
“If me performing well in these franchise leagues leads to that then great,” he reflects. “If it happens, it happens. If not, then I’ve got a lot to look forward to.”