STOKES AND HALES HAVE EYES ON WORLD CUP PRIZE

BEN STOKES has insisted he and Alex Hales share the goal of winning the T20 World Cup in Australia — despite the pair’s troubled history.

After confirmation of Hales’ England recall following an absence of more than three years Stokes said: ‘When it comes down to the big moments in World Cup games, you want your best players there and he certainly is one of those.’

But England’s Test captain refused to expand on the nature of his relationship with Hales, who was with him on the night of his Bristol brawl in 2017 and was then left out of the 2019 World Cup squad for not apologising to his team-mates over a failed drugs test. England have made one change to their Test side as they go in search of a 2-1 victory over the South Africans, with Harry Brook coming in for the injured Jonny Bairstow.