Despite his runs, Alex Hales remains stuck on the outside as England begin World Cup journey

SAM MORSHEAD: As the anniversary of Hales' last England appearance (March 10) edges closer, the country's second top runscorer in men's T20Is remains out of favour. Why? And is this stasis set to last forever?

Alex Hales is among the most sought-after players in franchise cricket, one of England’s best ever T20 batsmen and has spent the winter months dominating bowlers in the Big Bash.

Yet, instead of strapping on his pads as the road to the World Cup begins in East London on Wednesday, the opener is back home in the East Midlands, hiding from the snow as his England freezeout continues.

More than nine months have passed since Hales was dropped from the national squad, just days away from the start of a home World Cup, after failing a recreational drugs test for a second time.

It was the culmination of a tumultuous year and a half, during which the batsman attracted substantial public attention, and criticism, for his actions away from cricket - from his presence outside a Bristol nightclub on the night of Ben Stokes’ arrest to allegations about his private life during a tour of West Indies. 

The second failed drugs test, which triggered a 21-day ban, was the straw which broke the selectors’ backs, and his removal from the squad was designed to make sure his teammates were “free from any distractions” in the build-up to the tournament, which they ultimately went on to win.

That Hales was not on the podium at Lord’s on July 14 to celebrate the successful culmination of a project to which he had contributed so much was punishment in its purest form.

But England stressed that, for all his faults, Hales’ situation was not terminal.

In September, director of men’s cricket Ashley Giles insisted “the door is not closed”. 

“A mistake should not haunt you for life,” he said.

As the anniversary of Hales’ last England appearance (March 10) edges closer, however, the country’s second top runscorer in T20Is remains on the outside. 

Why? And is this stasis set to last forever?

^{Alex Hales has been in fine form for Sydney Thunder}

From a performance perspective, Hales could not have done any more to prove his value to his country. 

Since the start of 2019, only one man has scored more T20 runs in major franchise competitions than his 1,629 - the great AB de Villiers. What’s more, Hales is one of only seven men to have made 1,000-plus runs in those tournaments at a strike rate in excess of 140. In the Big Bash just gone, only Marcus Stoinis made more tournament runs than his 576.

There is good reason why Hales is among the most in-demand short-format players on the planet - and that is no wild exaggeration.

He was the first pick in last year’s CPL draft, a platinum selection by Karachi Kings for this season’s PSL, he will be an icon player in the first edition of The Hundred with Trent Rockets, and several Big Bash franchises have voiced their interest in signing him to a multi-year deal following his exploits in Sydney.

“There may be a perception that Alex needs to score 50 per cent more runs than most people to get back in that (England) team,” Hales’ agent James Cross told The Cricketer. “He’s got to be banging that door down, which quite frankly he seems to be doing at the moment.”

England, of course, go into World Cup year absurdly spoiled for choice when it comes to T20 openers, and it is not only Hales who finds himself stuck in a holding pattern.

Liam Livingstone strikes the ball as cleanly as anyone else available to Morgan; Tom Banton’s introduction to senior cricket has been certifiably seismic (772 runs at an average of 38.6 and with a strike rate of 165.7 in major franchise and county T20 since the start of last year); and James Vince has become a prized asset around the world’s leagues (1,434, 28.1, 133.4).

MOST RUNS IN MAJOR FRANCHISE & COUNTY T20 (SINCE JAN 1, 2019)

AB de Villiers - 1,726

Alex Hales - 1,629

Cameron Delport - 1,446

Rilee Rossouw - 1,444

James Vince - 1,434

Marcus Stoinis - 1,415

Liam Livingstone - 1,297

D'Arcy Short - 1,284

Chris Gayle - 1,181

Colin Ingram - 1,167

And that is not to mention Laurie Evans - the most consistent T20 batsman on the planet in 2018 - or Phil Salt, who has made an impact in both the PSL and the Big Bash.

In front of the lot of them, however, are Jos Buttler, Jonny Bairstow, Jason Roy and Dawid Malan; not just obstacles, but great landslides blocking the road.

Even if Hales had none of the baggage, his seat on the plane to Australia still would not be guaranteed. But that baggage is there, and it is still weighing him down.

"Alex is in fantastic form… but his form has never been a question about him coming back into the squad,” England captain Eoin Morgan told Sky Sports ahead of the ODI series in South Africa.

"What happened prior to the World Cup last summer was a complete breakdown in trust between Alex and the team.

"The way back in for Alex is to try and rebuild that trust and that takes a considerable amount of time. We are in that time at the moment."

How a player rebuilds trust thousands of miles away from his countrymen, while playing on the franchise circuit, is not entirely clear.

This does not seem to be a situation that can be solved by therapists or teambuilding manuals - otherwise, some proactive soul at the ECB would surely by now have stood Morgan on a treestump, told Hales to hold out his arms, and pushed the England skipper backwards.

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No, this is more complex. Whatever “trust” means to Morgan, and by extension his England team, there is still work to do. 

England say there is no set timeframe for this to happen. Hales is not blacklisted and is available to the selectors - Morgan, Chris Silverwood and Ed Smith - each time they pick a squad.

“It’s a balance between proving you’ve done all you need to do to get your personal life back on track - then backing that up with runs and a higher level of maturity. How do you show people that’s the case? We put a plan in place whereby Alex has been able to go around the world and play in the best competitions in the world, with the best players and coaches, and let his cricket do the talking,” Cross said.

“The big thing that a lot of franchise coaches will note is how much of a leader he’s become in the last 12 months. He’s a really experienced player and a really intelligent thinker about the game. He maybe hasn’t shown that to be a part of his personality as much as he should.

“Maybe people are starting to see a more mature side to him, that it’s about being judged on serious cricket and mature decision making.”

The Cricketer asked Sydney Thunder acting general manager Chris Botherway to assess Hales’ time with the franchise this winter.

“(He) proved to be a valued member of the leadership group, offering a great deal of insight throughout the season,” said Botherway - who spent 11 years with Nottinghamshire and has known Hales since the player’s teenage years.

^{Hales walks out to bat with Jonny Bairstow in the Caribbean last spring}

“As a club we pride ourselves on signing more autographs and taking more selfies with fans than any other side in the competition. Alex really bought into this and was generous with his time at our fan days and post-match functions.

“He quickly become a favourite among our fans and members.”

Hales’ representatives, the 366 Group, are in regular contact with the ECB, who they say have kept their word in providing support to the player - a somewhat different stance to last April, when the agency reacted to the batsman being dropped from the England squad with a statement which included the line: “player welfare would appear to be low on their (the ECB’s) list of priorities.”

So a thaw appears to have set in on all sides.

“There’s no anger, there’s no frustration, the dialogue has been such that we’re clear about what he needs to do to get back in contention” Cross said.

“A period of reflection was needed, and some time away from the team while they did what they did during the World Cup. No one expected it to go any differently from how it has.”

MOST RUNS FOR ENGLAND IN T20Is

Eoin Morgan - 2,002

Alex Hales - 1,644

Jos Buttler - 1,260

Kevin Pietersen - 1,176

Joe Root - 893

Luke Wright - 759

Jason Roy - 743

Ravi Bopara - 711

Jonny Bairstow - 603

Paul Collingwood - 583

Publicly, Hales has made very few comments about his situation since last summer. Aside from an August interview with the Daily Telegraph, and a November appearance on Sky Sports, he has spent little time in front of cameras and dictaphones.

That is partly a deliberate ploy - actions have spoken so much louder than words throughout this saga, after all - but it as much due to the fact that Hales has barely stood still long enough to allow the media to catch up.

He flew to the Caribbean on September 2, returning for 24 hours around T20 Blast Finals Day, before jetting back out to Barbados. Eight days at home followed in October, prior to a six-week stint with Durban Heat in the Mzansi Super League. He then flew to Sydney on December 13.

Having reached the last four with the Thunder, Hales is currently on a week’s sojourn before he catches a plane to the PSL. By the time he returns, in late March, he will have spent just over a fortnight in the UK in seven months.

“It feels like a new chapter,” Hales said in that Telegraph chat, before his jetsetting began. 

“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, just being around those guys all the time.

^{Hales is set to fly off to the PSL imminently}

“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. If it happens it happens. If not, then I’ve got a lot to look forward to.”

Hales turned 31 in January, and by the time the next 50-over World Cup rolls around he will be 34. England are already investing in youth with that four-year cycle in mind - Banton, Matt Parkinson and Saqib Mahmood were all given their ODI debuts during the tour of South Africa - and there is a possibility that Hales’ time is already up in that format.

But in T20 the landscape is a little different. This year’s World Cup is followed by another in India in 2021, and though subcontinental conditions may not suit Hales’ skillset quite like Australia’s, if he continues to return big numbers on the domestic trail he will be hard to ignore.

After all, only Morgan has more T20 runs for England's men than Hales’ 1,644, only two other men with 500-plus T20 runs for England (Joe Root and Kevin Pietersen) have an average superior to his 31.01, and there is a very strong argument that the Notts man is his country’s best ever short-form opener - Jos Buttler, for all his brilliance at the top of the order in the IPL, has only taken on the role in six international innings.

There is a chance, however, that Hales’ international career is over. 

“He made a mistake and it was the ultimate mistake,” Cross said. “Most people on the street would say that the biggest punishment for Alex was that he wasn’t there at Lord’s on July 14.

“He understands the effect it’s had on his England career and he’s determined to enjoy things now. Whether that is playing international cricket again or not, he’ll have lots of happy memories of that England team and what he achieved as an integral part of it.”