England opener Alex Hales has been reprimanded by the Cricket Discipline Commission (CDC) over an old photo of him in "blackface" at a student party, which was published by a national newspaper last year.
Hales issued a public apology when the photo was published by The Sun last year. As per Sky Sports, the image was apparently taken in 2009 when the batter was 20 years of age at a New Year's Eve Party.
The CDC is described by the ECB as the body that hears disciplinary cases in the professional domestic game in England and Wales and operates "at arm's length" from the board itself.
Hales was charged in August with a breach of ECB directive 3.3, which states: "No such person may conduct himself in a manner or do any act or omission which may be prejudicial to the interests of cricket or which may bring the game of cricket or any cricketer or group of cricketers into disrepute.''
The opener admitted to the charges and told the CDC's investigation that he had taken steps "to ensure that the photo could not be linked to any of his social media accounts" in 2015 and 2017.
As per the report, ECB had argued that hat Hales' breaches of its directives in 2018, relating primarily to the 2017 street fight in Bristol, should be considered "an aggravating factor", but Tickle disagreed.
"Neither of those breaches related to discriminatory conduct. They were wholly dissimilar. Further, they occurred some eight years after the breach in this case. It would be different if it were a case of repeat offending, of Mr Hales not having learnt his lesson. At the material time - 2009 - he had a clean record. This was his first offence and it is appropriate to treat it as such,” he wrote.
According to Sky Sports, before his recall for the series against Pakistan and the T20 World Cup this year, Hales had not played for England since 2019 due to off-field issues. He had tested positive for recreational drug usage weeks before the 2019 World Cup and was axed from the England squad which went on to win the tournament, their first 50-over World Cup title.
However, post the retirement of Eoin Morgan, who had a "complete breakdown in trust" with Hales, the right-handed batter has played 15 T20Is for England in 2022, having scored 430 runs at an average of 30.71 and a strike rate of 145.27.
In England’s T20 World Cup 2022 win, Hales aggregated 212 runs in six matches at an average of 42.20. He scored two fifties, with a best of 86* against India.
(ESPNCricinfo/ ANI inputs)
