England’s limited-overs coach Matthew Mott remains hopeful that Ben Stokes’ weird relationship with Alex Hales will not distract them from winning the upcoming T20 World Cup as well. Mott has also added Stokes’ wish to win the T20 World Cup, a goal shared by Hales as well. However, Alex Hales, who failed to make it to the original squad, came into the T20 World Cup squad as Jonny Bairstow’s replacement. The veteran had allegedly lost the trust of the England side after failing a drugs test twice before the 2019 World Cup, leading to a three-year exile from international cricket as well.
Meanwhile, Stokes, who will miss the T20 series in Pakistan, stated that their goal is to help England win the World Cup and Alex Hales is the perfect replacement for Bairstow. Meanwhile, Mott believes that they need not necessarily be best friends as long as they work together towards their common goal.
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He stated, as quoted by ESPNCricinfo: “They might not be best mates and that’s OK. I’m sure you work with colleagues all the time who aren’t your best mate but you can work with them if you’ve got a common goal. Ben’s come out and stated that as well. He wants to win World Cups. I’m sure Alex does as well and we all do, so we try and pick the best players and if they end up becoming good mates again that’s great; if not, as long as they’re going towards that goal of winning the World Cup together, then that’s how teams function.”
Matthew Mott further claimed that he rang Trevor Bayliss, England’s World Cup-winning coach in 2019 while talking about Alex Hales’ inclusion and felt that he was the best candidate as well.
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“I rang Trevor Bayliss around the time we were considering it and asked if he had any views. Obviously, he was coach at the time and has worked with him at Sydney Thunder. He said he’s had absolutely no problem with him at all, he’s made mistakes but he’s trying to get better. For me, that’s it. Nobody’s perfect – I’m certainly not – but if he’s trying to get better and he’s the best player, then we can work around it,” Matthew Mott concluded.
