“It’s been a long few months,” says Alex Hales. England took a 2-0 lead in the ODI series at Brisbane, Hales pitching in with 57 in a four-wicket win. While the focus is on the 29-year-old’s return to international cricket, the interest is on his time away.
For his part in September’s incident that has led to Ben Stokes and two others being charged with affray, Hales was suspended by the ECB for the final two summer ODIs against West Indies. In October, he learned he was not under investigation and began the process of getting on with life and cricket. That, in part, has begun with a change in his management team.
The inaugural T10 tournament in Sharjah gave him match time and the crispness of his seven fours and one six at Brisbane suggests his game is in a good place. So, too, is his head. Absence has grown his fondness for this ODI side.
“It is great to be back out here,” he says. “It hurt massively at the time to miss two games for something that happened off the field. It is disappointing and it will make me enjoy my time in an England shirt a hell of a lot more moving forward and cherish every moment I get on the field.”
He has empathy for Stokes, whose England return has been pushed back following his scheduled court date on 13 February. “We are looking forward to welcoming him back in the squad in New Zealand,” Hales says. “He’s a huge player for England.”
So is Hales. From 2016 to 2017 he scored 1,278 ODI runs at an average of 49.2, with four hundreds and eight fifties. In that time he blitzed 171 against Pakistan – now the second-highest ODI score by a English player after Jason Roy’s 180 in the first ODI of this series – as well as the highest score in a one-day final at Lord’s, with an unbeaten 187 in last summer’s Royal London Cup against Surrey. But off-field matters have dimmed his achievements. He believes he has learned his lesson.
“It is about being responsible when you are on England duty. You have eyes all over you and that brings responsibility on and off the field. That is something I have learned over the last few months”
His popularity may have dwindled at the ECB, especially after missing the tour to Bangladesh in 2016, but it has not in the squad. He was welcomed back with open arms – “the guys have been brilliant” – and that, in part, is down to Hales. He is regarded by many around the English circuit as a fine team-mate, one who goes out of his way to champion the achievements of others. When Jake Ball received his first call-up to the Test side in 2016 it was Hales who, unprompted, organised a celebratory evening on behalf of his Nottinghamshire team-mate.
It is why, with two opening places eventually needing to be split between him, Roy and Bairstow, he has no qualms in cheering on the other two: “Everyone’s enjoyed each other’s success.”
Quite how these experiences will change Hales remains to be seen. Much of why this ODI side is so likeable has been a camaraderie that twentysomething admirers of the game have latched on to. Hales has been a big part of that: unpretentious, raw and always up for a laugh, traits that mean he is cheered from the stands when he puts on a walrus mask while fielding in the deep. He also refunded a punter who felt he had been cheated out of a full-day’s play at the 2016 Edbgaston Test when 81 of 90 overs were bowled. Upon receiving the fan’s bank details Hales reimbursed them £4.10.
Ultimately, though, off-field events have harmed the sport’s image. Hales, not for the first time, is keen to make amends. “Playing for England is a massive honour, especially with a home World Cup next year,” he says. “There is an opportunity for us. I want to be a part of that.”
