Can Alex Hales regain the trust of the England setup to make an international comeback?
The transformation of England’s One-Day side has certainly been a dramatic one from, from embarrassment of a group-stage exit in the 2015 World Cup to becoming world champions last year in incredible circumstances at Lords last year. Although England were home favourites going into the tournament, it was not all plain sailing building up to the start of the competition. England captain Eoin Morgan and head coach Trevor Bayliss had a huge decision regarding opening batsman Alex Hales after he failed two drug tests for recreational drugs in the months before the tournament. Hales was excluded from the squad and has not played for England since, with many casting doubt over whether he will ever play for England again. Is trust between Hales and the rest of the England setup the principal barrier for a return and will he ever represent his country again?
Between 2015 and 2018, Alex Hales (pictured) was a key part of the renaissance of the England ODI team forming a formidable partnership with Jason Roy at the top of the order and leading the devastating batting line-up that England possess. In 70 ODI’s, Hales has scored 2,419 runs at average of 37.79 with a strike rate of 95.72. Hales has 6 ODI centuries, including a highest score of 171. Not only has Hales contributed well to the One-Day team, he was a mainstay of the T20 for a number of years, playing 60 times averaging 31.01 with a strike rate of 136.65 and a highest score of 116 not out. These statistics prove that in the shorter formats of the game Hales has made telling contributions to the England side over a consistent period of time. However, the situation changed for Hales and England when he failed two drug tests last year before the World Cup. What then lay ahead for the decision makers within the England setup was could they pick Hales for a global tournament considering what he had done.
One of they key aspects to a harmonious and united cricket dressing room is trust. Cricketers spend a lot of time in each other’s pockets both on and off the field and it is therefore vital that everyone is buying into the same culture and environment. If one person fails to do so, everything can collapse and not work efficiently. The England cricket team do have history with this sort of situation with Kevin Pietersen messaging members of the South African team when they were touring about then-captain Andrew Strauss. Although the circumstances were different, there was still a breakdown in trust between one player and the rest of the group. Even though Pietersen did make a comeback for the England team, it was clear that the trust was broken and the end of his England career was sped up.
Going into a major tournament like a World Cup with the pressure of being favourites for a home competition, England did not need the ‘Hales distraction’. If Hales had been picked, undoubtedly the media would have been consistently mentioning it and the majority of questions posed to the England squad and coaching staff would have been focused on one topic, Alex Hales. As the captain, Eoin Morgan had a tough decision to make to exclude Hales, who had been at the forefront of England’s renaissance in ODI cricket. It could have been easy to try and brush it under the carpet and select Hales. However, it is yet another sign of Morgan’s strong captaincy to stick to principles and values in this situation and a testament to Morgan for not allowing this to become a story that could have become a burden on the team throughout the World Cup. Yes it is easy to sit here now with England as World Champions and say that the decision Morgan and head coach Trevor Bayliss made was the right one, but we all know in most global tournaments that any England side have played in any sport there is usually some sort of distraction or talking point that has led to disaster. In some ways, Hales’ exclusion from the World Cup squad helped answer the question of who would open the batting as it paved the way for the destructive pair of Jonny Bairstow and Jason Roy to take their place at the top of the order. However, with Jason Roy getting injured during the group stages, it would have been ideal if Hales had been a part of the squad.
A year on from Hales’ exclusion from the World Cup squad, he continues to miss out on England One-Day squads. Last week, England announced an unprecedented 55-man training group for this summer’s cricket schedule. Hales’ name was not one of those included in this list. Is this a pretty good indication that Hales’ England career is over, potentially, although Hales is only 31 years old so he still has a number of years left in him. In recent weeks, a number of members of the current England squad have given their take on a possible return to the setup for Hales. All-rounder Chris Woakes has said he believes all players deserve a second chance, which is a sentiment many people would share in any walk of life that people deserve a shot at redemption. Bowler Mark Wood has said that the team will take the lead of captain Eoin Morgan and the team management regarding a possible return for Hales. The most important person seemingly in whether Hales makes a return to the England team or not is the captain Eoin Morgan. If the captain doesn’t trust a player, then the rest of the team are unlikely to trust that player. Morgan has admitted that he has spoken with Hales during lockdown, but that an imminent return is not in the reckoning. He has reiterated the point at the time of Hales’ exclusion that Hales had shown a ‘complete disregard’ for the team’s values. It seems that while Morgan is still the captain of the ODI team and that could be until the next 50-over World Cup in 2023, the chances of Hales returning are very slim. Hales’ last ODI and T20 series were in the West Indies in March 2019, and the chances of him adding to his international caps are fading away.
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