Has Alex Hales been selected in England ODI squad for Ireland series?

Dixit Bhargav | 09/07/2020
Has Alex Hales been selected in England ODI squad for Ireland series?

Alex Hales been selected in England ODI squad: The opening batsman had last represented England in white-ball cricket in March 2019.

England have announced a 24-member training group for their upcoming three-match ODI series against Ireland beginning from July 30.

Much like the Test squad, the selected players will enter a bio-secure bubble at the Ageas Bowl on July 16 to train and then play two intra-squad matches before the final squad is announced.

ALSO READ: Mark Wood confident of English players accepting Alex Hales in national team

Apart from nine uncapped players, the training group also comprises of comebacks for players of the likes of Sam Billings, Liam Dawson, Ben Duckett, James Vince, David Willey and Reece Topley.

Has Alex Hales been selected in England ODI squad for Ireland series?

Axed England ODI batsman Alex Hales, who last played for England during the tour of West Indies, was one name which was expected to feature in the ODI training group especially in times when a totally different squad for ODIs has been announced.

While it was mentioned by the English Cricket Board that Pat Brown, Chris Jordan and Dawid Malan were absent due to respective injuries, no update was provided with respect to Hales as his national comeback continues to be delayed.

While former captain Nasser Hussain, former batsman Nick Compton and all-rounder Chris Woakes have supported Hales’ return in the recent past, white-ball captain Eoin Morgan has spoken of the otherwise.

Hales, who was initially part of England’s squad for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019, was dropped as he was tested positive for a recreational drug days after the squad was announced.

The 31-year old batsman has scored 1,590 runs in 53 T20s at an average of 34.57 and a strike rate of 142.73 including 14 half-centuries to press for a national return but his wait doesn’t seem to end in the near future.

In 53 ODIs as an opening batsman, Hales has scored 1,974 runs at an average of 38.70. Talking about the English opening batsmen in the last 10 years, Hales has the second-best number of centuries (5) and third-best strike rate (96.29) among batsmen with more than 1,000 runs.

Post Edited By: Dixit Bhargav
Alex Hales England Ireland Ireland tour of England 2020

About the author

Dixit Bhargav

Born and brought up in Pathankot, Dixit Bhargav is an engineering and sports management graduate who works as a Cricket Editor at The SportsRush. Having written more than 10,000 articles across more than five years at TSR, his first cricketing memory dates back to 2002 when former India captain Sourav Ganguly had waved his jersey at the historic Lord’s balcony. What followed for an 8-year-old was an instant adulation for both Ganguly and the sport. The optimist in him is waiting for the day when Punjab Kings will win their maiden Indian Premier League title. When not watching cricket, he is mostly found in a cinema hall watching a Punjabi movie.

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