The veteran English all-rounder, Ben Stokes offered welcoming words for Alex Hales after his return to the national squad was confirmed after a long break of more than three years, Ben Stokes stated that the duo shares the same ambition of lifting trophies with the English team. Stokes went on to label Hales as one of the world’s best and his ability to win crucial matches. Alex Hales will finally be making his way back to the England dressing room as he has replaced Jonny Bairstow in the T20 World Cup squad.
Alex Hales will also be playing the T20Is against Pakistan ahead of the tournament. The opener had been an integral part of the team’s white-ball setup under Eoin Morgan but had failed tests for recreation drugs twice. The second incident came just ahead of the World Cup in 2019, leading to his sudden exclusion from the side and an indefinite exile that continued to date.
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Meanwhile, Alex Hales is also said to have a cold relationship with Ben Stokes. When asked to comment on Alex’s return to the England team and the rift in their relationship, during a chat with crikcet365, Ben Stokes said, “My goal, Alex’s goal and everyone else’s goal who is part of that squad is to win the World Cup. We’ve both got the same goal to win World Cups.”
He further added, “Alex is definitely one of the best T20 players in the world and unfortunately with what happened with Jonny we had to call another player up. Alex is definitely one of the guys that bowlers don’t want to be bowling at in the T20 format.”
For England, Alex Hales has managed 1,644 runs in 60 T20Is averaging over 30, and could prove to be a key player with Jason Roy also left out of the squad.
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Describing the same, Ben Stokes concluded, “When it comes down to the big moments in games and World Cup games, knockout games, you want your best players there to be taking that pressure on and he certainly is one of those.”
