Timing is everything in cricket. And one batsman with a seemingly impeccable sense of it is Alex Hales, the Nottinghamshire right‑hander who appears the frontrunner to become Alastair Cook’s next opening partner in Test cricket.
Going into his side’s Division One fixture with Warwickshire at Trent Bridge last Friday, Hales was all too aware that, with the fifth Ashes Test under way at the Kia Oval and the incumbent, Adam Lyth, struggling in the series, it was time to send a message to the selectors.
Having lost the toss and been put into bat against a high-class seam attack, these thoughts were not necessarily a good thing, of course. Opening the batting requires focus and the additional pressure he was putting himself under to deliver could easily have proved self-defeating.
But the resulting innings suggests a bit of additional tension is not always a bad thing, with Hales peeling off 189 from 216 balls while England were collapsing to 107 for eight on day two.
“I knew it was a big innings in terms of my international ambitions,” he said. “I had it in the back of my mind when I went out to bat that a score would be excellent timing with the winter tours coming up. In an ideal world you wouldn’t want to have that mentality but it was hard not to. So it was great to put a big score on the board.”
Trevor Bayliss has admitted that Lyth, who scored 19 and 10 to cap a disappointing series, is likely to be replaced for the winter Test series against Pakistan and South Africa and calls for Hales to come in have intensified.
Averaging 52.12 in Division One this summer, his chances of selection were discussed at length by the Sky commentary team during Nottinghamshire’s Royal London one-day quarter-final against Durham , where he struck his first two deliveries for four en route to 62 from 54 balls in their rain-affected 49-run win.
The 26-year-old, speaking on the morning of the match, said he is trying to stay grounded. “I haven’t got that Test spot yet and all I can do is score runs for Notts. I’ve tried to block out all the talk but it is hard. The ball is in my court to score as heavily as I can and put pressure on the guys above.
Does he feel ready for Test cricket? “You never know until you step out there, I guess, but I feel my four-day game is in as good a place as it has been in my whole career. I have worked hard on some technical things and I’m scoring runs but I would like to think it’s only the start.”
Given his success in short-form cricket – Hales is the only Englishman to score an international century in Twenty20 and has three of their four highest scores in the format – does he feel slightly type-cast as a white-ball specialist?
“Maybe a little bit,” he replies. “I’ve always excelled at Twenty20 cricket – it’s been my strongest form – and it can be the English way to pigeonhole people. It’s up to me to prove those doubters wrong.
“The public will have mainly seen me play white-ball cricket and may think I’m a slogger but I have scored four-day runs and so I think I’m more than that.”
One plan mooted for England’s next Test assignment, Pakistan in the UAE, is for Moeen Ali to open, allowing the second spinner, Adil Rashid, to slot in at No8. It seems short-term, however, with the South Africa pace attack of Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Vernon Philander lying in wait.
Hales began the summer batting at No3 for Nottinghamshire, where he scored a career‑best 236 against Yorkshire, but has since returned to the top of the order and would represent a more specialist option. Doing the job at a ground like Trent Bridge must also count in his favour. “I have opened for most of my career and it’s something I enjoy,” he says. “It’s tough at county cricket because the wickets you play on tend to have a bit in them for the seamers early on, so it can be a tough challenge, but I would say it is my natural spot at the moment.”
Is his game equipped to face a trial by spin in the UAE? “I think so. It’s rare in county cricket you play on a raging turner but I have had time in India on England performance programmes and I have had two World Twenty20s on the subcontinent. Playing spin on turning pitches in international cricket is nothing new to me. I will have to work hard in the nets if I get the chance but it’s a challenge I am ready for.”
The next three weeks will see the white-ball cricket continue, however, with Hales part of the limited-overs sides who take on Australia, starting with the one-off Twenty20 international in Cardiff on Monday.
In Bayliss, a man he has come up against only during his time playing in Australia’s Big Bash League, Hales will have a new England coach to win over too after Paul Farbrace, his assistant, kept the seat warm during the early part of the summer.
“Paul Farbrace was brilliant in reinstalling the confidence in our cricket during the one-day series against New Zealand,” Hales says. “He makes players feel good about the way they play their cricket. And we have a new coach now and the young guys are keen to impress.
“I don’t know Trevor but I’ve heard he’s a relaxed character, too. That’s the way it should be in international cricket; all the guys know their games and all they need is for coaches to support them. I’m really looking forward to working under him.”
