Alex Hales says 2019 World Cup snub ‘sickening’; determined to earn his spot back in England team

Hales said that he is a better person in the two years' time he has been out of England team.

Alex Hales says that the World Cup 2019 snub was sickening, to say the least, but mentioned that he is determined to earn his place back in the England team. This comes after a brilliant outing in the BBL 10 T20 tournament.

The 32-year-old was the tournament top-scorer with 543 runs at a strike-rate of 161 and also played an important role in Karachi Kings' PSL title-winning campaign in 2020. However, he did go unsold in the latest IPL 2021 auction.

"I'm obviously desperate to get back into the England team. The pinnacle of cricket is still international cricket, so I'd love to be able to force my way back into that limited-overs side somehow.

I still feel like I'm sharp and fit. I still feel like I can challenge the best bowlers in the world, so I definitely feel like I'm good enough to still be playing, and hopefully, I can get another crack,” Hales told Sky Sports.

England selector Ed Smith hints at Alex Hales' international return this summer

England had recently named its T20I squad for the five-match series in India and Hales’ name was missing. Hales knows he still has a long way to go to convince England's captain, Eoin Morgan, that he is worthy of a recall, following what Morgan has repeatedly described as a "complete breakdown of trust" between the player and the team.

"One of the things that have been said in the media is that there needs to be a certain amount of time and trust rebuilt. I sent a message to Morgie around April last year, just as we went into lockdown, but obviously, it'd only been a year since it happened so he wasn't ready to talk about anything like that.

I'd like to have some conversations with some people over, hopefully, the next couple of months and see how I can go about regaining trust as I'm currently not around the squad,” he said.

England coach Chris Silverwood speaks on Alex Hales’ return to the fold

Things had broken down between Hales and England team after he failed the second of two tests for recreational drugs in the weeks leading up to the World Cup 2019. Hales was left out of the England squad which went onto win the tournament and were crowned World Champions.

"At first, watching the whole thing unfold was sickening. It is really quite hard to put into words that feeling when you're told the bad news. That drive home was probably the worst I've ever felt in my life.

Putting that aside, to sit and watch the guys go on to win the World Cup was a weird feeling because you feel sick at yourself for not being a part of it, but you feel so much elation because you know how much hard work has gone into it over the four years since the previous World Cup,” Hales said.  

"People make stupid mistakes, but when something that means so much to you is taken away from you, you suddenly realize those changes you need to make. That's something I really feel like I've done over the last couple of years. This is as happy as I've been in a long time off the field and as confident as I've been in a long time on the field,” Hales signed off.

(Sky Sports inputs)