Alex Hales opens up on playing the 2023 ODI World Cup
England power-hitter Alex Hales has said that as of now he is not thinking about playing the next year’s 50-overs World Cup in India and is focused only on playing T20Is for England and franchise cricket across the globe. Hales was an integral part of the Three Lions’ recent T20 World Cup triumph in Australia.
At the same time, the explosive opener also added that his decision to quit playing Test cricket has immensely helped in improving his game in the shortest format. The senior batter further added that he is looking forward to playing on the challenging subcontinent wickets to master the art of playing spin.
Going forward I would concentrate on playing T20Is for England and franchise cricket: Alex Hales
“I don’t know but I think going forward I would concentrate on playing T20Is for England and franchise cricket. I haven’t put much thought into ODIs,” said Alex Hales while speaking during a Zoom interaction arranged by Team Abu Dhabi ahead of the T10 League.
“On the subcontinent, pitches more often not tend to have a bias towards spin and you have to make sure you adapt your methods. And I think that’s one of the key things as a franchise cricketer,” he added.
“As you’re playing tournaments in different countries and conditions all year round, so you have to keep topping up on certain areas of your game all the time, otherwise you soon get found out,” he further added.
Hales was never in the scheme of things for England’s T20 World Cup 2022 squad and it was only when Jonny Bairstow was ruled out due to a broken leg following a horrific golf injury that the power-hitter got a chance to feature in the squad. The 33-year-old was left out from the England squad for over three years after he had failed a drug test ahead of the 2019 World Cup.
His best knock came against India in the semis as he scored an unbeaten 86 runs off 47 deliveries at an outstanding strike rate of 183. He along with skipper Jos Buttler knocked India out of the competition with an unbeaten opening stand of 170 runs. Hales finished the tournament with 212 runs from six matches averaging 42.40
