Woakes plea
England should give Hales a second chance if he can show he has learnt from mistakes
Chris Woakes believes Alex Hales deserves a second chance with England if he can prove he has learnt from his mistakes.
Hales will discover next week if he has a future international career when England name their training squads for Test and one-day cricket.
One-day captain Eoin Morgan was infuriated by Hales’s behaviour last year and, when he failed a second drug test, said he had shown “complete disregard” for the team’s rules and values.
Hales was dropped from the World Cup squad after a meeting of England’s senior players at a training camp in Cardiff and has not been picked since. Woakes was part of that committee of senior players.
Morgan is a stubborn man and has full control over the one-day squad in a way that Joe Root does not have yet with the Test team, but with England set to announce around 40 players in an extended training squad across both white and red-ball cricket, the need for extra bodies means there is a chink of light for Hales. England’s “extended playing group” (they are keen to stress it is not an official squad) will be made up of those on central contracts and county players taken off furlough if necessary.
They will pick around 30 red-ball specialists and 10 white-ball players. The early focus will be on Test cricket as that is due to start first, with one-day specialists such as Morgan and, if selected, Hales due to start practising from the middle of next month. “I’m a believer that people serve their time, so to speak,” Woakes said. “I think if people have gone away for a time and worked on their weaknesses they should be allowed a second chance.
“Alex is a world-class player. I have played a lot of cricket with him from a young age. In a way, I felt sorry for him, but I understand the decision from the management, captain and rest of the team.
“I don’t 100 per cent know what will happen, but I’d be happy to see Alex back in England colours. I would imagine the majority would have the kind of views I have given. We have a culture and an environment in the England squad, we all try to pull in the right direction. If Alex is willing to do that then I imagine everyone would be happy to see him back playing for England.” Hales is 31 and England have younger options, such as Tom Banton and Phil Salt. Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow are England’s opening pair now and neither is in the Test side, so will be able to concentrate on white-ball cricket this summer. England will also want to see Ollie Pope play whiteball cricket at some point soon, so Hales is a long way down the list, but in unusual circumstances such as these an expanded squad does offer a chance that looked as if it had gone completely this time last year.
Woakes was one of the first England players back in the nets this week, bowling five overs at Edgbaston at about 50 per cent of full effort. The bowlers will continue to increase their workloads next week as they build up strength. The batsmen will be back from June 1.
All are practising in tightly controlled circumstances to reduce the chance of Covid-19 infection. Players have been sent thermometers to check their temperature before going to practice. They then had to input into an app on their phones answers to questions about anyone in their family being unwell or if they were showing any symptoms themselves.
“This has all been planned in the last few weeks, so it’s as safe as possible, we don’t come into contact with anyone,” Woakes said. “I took everything I needed for training with me: bottles. towels, medicine balls, bands that I use for warming up.
“I was given a box of balls, ready there for me to use once I got into the ground. And then those balls are now mine. No one else will touch them – the whole thing of having one skin on each ball.”
‘If Alex is willing to pull with us, I imagine everyone would be happy to see him back playing for England’