Alex Hales also revealed his conversation with Jos Buttler and Rob Key before his comeback.
England’s Alex Hales said that he is currently enjoying his comeback to international cricket, but admitted that he felt extremely nervous before his comeback match on the recent Pakistan tour, as he was turning for the Three Lions after three years.
Notably, Hales was out of the national reckoning ahead of the 2019 ODI World Cup due to the use of recreational drugs, and then captain Eoin Morgan said that he broke the trust of the team.
But an injury to Jonny Bairstow and his brilliant performance in T20 leagues around the world forced the national selectors to bring the opener back into the England set-up for Pakistan T20Is and T20 World Cup 2022.
Recently, the star cricketer admitted that he thought he would never get the chance to represent England again and even didn’t expect a recall a few weeks after his discussion with Rob Key. He now wants to make the most of the opportunity to help England win the T20 World Cup in 2022.
As reported by The Indian Express, Alex Hales stated: “It’s a chance I thought would never come round again. I want to play with a smile, hopefully get some good scores, and push as hard as I can to win a World Cup. It’s something I didn’t see happening a few months ago, especially with the firepower at the top of the order, and to get this chance, I’m just really keen to make the most of it.”
He added, “It was a weird one. I hadn’t got nervous for a long time. I don’t know what it was. I put it down to jet lag or maybe the fact that it’s heading into a huge six weeks for me and a chance I probably thought I wouldn’t get again a few months ago, so there were definitely pre-game nerves. But Jos told me that it’s a place I’ve got a lot of experience, and that counts for a lot in T20s.”
Meanwhile, Hales also opened up about his chat with England’s managing director Rob Key, saying: “I think they announced the squad in the evening. I knew in the morning that I wasn’t in it so I sent him a message saying, ‘Do you fancy a chat?”
The opener continued, “I went quite hard. I put my point across quite bluntly because I had nothing to lose. I felt I had a really strong case with my record in Australia so I thought ‘why not?’. You’ll have to ask Rob or Jos if it was a big part of me getting the call-up, but I’m glad I did it for sure.
There’s been no air-clearing at all. We just sat down with Jos and had a chat, and it’s been as good as gold. We’re here to win a World Cup, That’s the most important thing. We’ve had a really good chat and things have been fine. I don’t think the bug ever left me. At the moment I’m just concentrating on these five or six weeks, hopefully contributing to us going far in the tournament.”
He signed off by saying, “And then whatever happens after that, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. It’s just a shame I haven’t been around the last three years because I feel I’ve been playing the best cricket of my life. I’ve got some lost time to make up for.”
(Indian Express inputs)