Alex Hales spent one innings this summer trying to mimic Joe Root’s footwork at the crease, but now the England opener is back working on his original method in the hope of nailing down his place ahead of the upcoming winter tours.
Thursday’s fourth and final Test with Pakistan at The Oval, which England go into with a 2-1 lead, will be the 27-year-old’s 11th appearance as Alastair Cook’s partner at the top of the order – four more than were afforded to predecessors Adam Lyth and Sam Robson – yet he is still searching for his maiden hundred in the longest form of the game.
Were he to get there, the Nottinghamshire right-hander would become the first Englishman to register centuries in all three international formats – he has three in one-day internationals and one in Twenty20 – but the closest he has come remains the watchful 94 compiled during the drawn third Test with Sri Lanka at Lord’s in June.
His most accomplished, however, came in the recent Test victory at Edgbaston, with his 54 in England’s second innings helping to wipe off a 103‑run deficit in his first century opening stand with Cook in 19 innings. An average of 21.26 in the series, however, means it is crunch time if Hales is to make the Test tours to Bangladesh and India before Christmas.
“This series hasn’t quite gone to plan,” says Hales. “But I’ve shown people what I can do and this Test is a really important one for me. If I can show some form hopefully that will get me on some winter tours, but I do still feel like I’m improving and that’s important to me.”
“It’s important in anyone’s career to get a hundred. I have given myself five opportunities with five half-centuries, but not gone on. It’s a very big aim of mine and, as I’ve said before, I am learning and improving, so hopefully the best is to come.”
At 6ft 5in, few openers stand as tall as Hales, who has had his technique, particularly on and outside off stump, heavily scrutinised during his brief Test career. After being bowled through the gate for 10 by Mohammad Amir during the first innings of the win at Old Trafford, he briefly tried to adjust his footwork to match that of Root, having watched his 254 from the dressing room, but after making 30 in the second innings doing so, thought better of it.
“Getting out half an hour into the first day it gives you a lot of time to ponder on stuff,” Hales says. “Watching Rooty bat, the way he moves his feet around the crease, got me thinking about little adjustments in my game. In the second innings, I tried to give it a go and it wasn’t something I was comfortable with.
“In between Tests I did a lot of work with Peter Moores [the former England head coach and current Nottinghamshire consultant]. I did a bit of alignment work, sticking to the basics of trigger and head movements and some adjustments to the left-armers, but sticking to what has brought me success in the past. Trying to copy other players isn’t being true yourself.”
While the selection of Hales last year for the tour of South Africa came largely off the back of limited-overs form, his Test batting has been more circumspect than many expected and a strike-rate of 47.5 per 100 balls in the current series sits in stark contrast with the 70.55 from the in-form Cook, supposedly the more obdurate of the two.
“Something I’ve learned is not to go out and bat with any pre-conceived ideas,” Hales says. “I don’t want to be a guy who is known for blocking it or hits it to all parts. You have to be adaptable. If they bowl well I want to be good enough to see it off and if they bowl poorly still have the intention to hit the bad balls.”
Hales is not entirely orthodox off the field and after the third day at Edgbaston, when nine of the alloted 90 overs went unbowled, he took the unusual step of refunding one supporter 10% of his ticket price – £4.10, via online bank transfer – following a request on Twitter.
“I saw the tweet – it made me chuckle and he had a point as well,” Hales says. “I didn’t think I’d get a response, but when he did it I thought I better go through with it. I might have crumbled with 20,000 more tweets, but it was in good spirits, a bit of fun.”
Twenty overs were bowled between lunch and tea on the third day, with Cook as captain avoiding official censure due to interruptions caused by three reviews and a break while groundstaff attended an issue with the footmarks. Despite not being a bowler – three overs of donkey-drops in Cape Town last December notwithstanding – Hales concedes England are aware of the issue.
It is a minor issue for a team that remains a work in progress, but England could go top of the Test rankings should they complete a series victory over Pakistan, provided India do not win their final two Tests of their current series with West Indies in the Caribbean.
Hales said: “It would be an incredible feeling, particularly for a team who are still developing. If we perform as well as we did in the last two Tests hopefully we can win this series and if we can get the No1 spot that’s exciting for us.”
