On this day, January 3,1989: England’s Alex Hales was born. He was a dynamic player and an early trend setter who will be fondly remembered by everyone who has watched him play. A short-form specialist,
Hales was a key member of England’s white ball international side, him smashing a six against Australia at Trent Bridge. England they broke the record for the highest ODI total in 2018 was one of the most memorable moment of his career.
Alex Hales made his international debut against India in August 2011 in a T20I at Manchester and represented England in 11 Tests, 70 One-Day Internationals and 75 T20Is. He also played a key role in England winning the WT20 in 2022. In the semi final against India he scored a brutal unbeaten 47-ball 86. Hales and Jos Buttler had powered England to a 10-wicket win while chasing 169 at Adelaide.
Alex Hales has scored 2,419 runs in 70 one-day internationals and 573 in 11 Tests between 2015 and 2016. However his career had some tough times as well. In 2017, Hales was involved with team-mate Ben Stokes in an incident outside a Bristol nightclub that led to him being charged by the England and Wales Cricket Board and subsequently suspended. Two years later, he served a 21-day ban for reportedly failing a recreational drugs test which led to him being dropped from England’s World Cup squad.
His three-year exile ended in September 2022 after he was called up as a replacement for the injured Jonny Bairstow and he won the World Cup for England and then announced his international retirement. Alex Hales made 156 appearances for England across three formats, scoring 5,066 runs and lifting the men’s T20 World Cup in November. He last played for his country in the five-wicket win against Pakistan in that final in Melbourne.
Alex Hales is still playing T20 leagues around the world and is the third highest run getter with 14,420 runs in 527 matches just behind Gayle and Pollard. There is a very good chances that in the coming year he might reach the top and end up as the highest run getter in the shortest format of the game.
