Alex Hales

Grandson of Tennis star - Dennis Hales, Alexander Daniel Hales is a 6-feet 5-inch tall and a talented explosive top-order batsman. Renowned for his boundary-hitting abilities, Hales has carried his fair share of controversies and will be remembered more as an unfortunate cricketer, than a thorough entertainer.  

The dasher broke into the limelight at an age of 16 and scored an unbeaten 114 at the London County Cricket Club’s Founders Day at Lord’s in 2005. He made various headlines after the game as the teenager scored 52 runs in a single over. There was no looking back for Hales from thereon. He represented the England U-19 in 2008 during the tour of New Zealand to smash three half-centuries. 

The following year, he was signed by Nottinghamshire where the Middlesex-born hit 150 off 102 balls in a Pro40 game against Worcestershire. Shortly after, Hales was included in the English Performance squad and later went on to feature for the England Lions for the entire summer of 2011

In the same year, Hales was brought into the international setup to make his debut against India but started his journey with a duck. However, Hales redeemed himself in the next T20 game versus West Indies to smoke 62 off 48 balls. A year later, he missed to score a century by just a run but got replaced in the squad for the 2012 World T20. 

During the initial stages of his international career, Hales carried the reputation of a T20 specialist and didn’t feature in the ODI format until 2014, despite donning the English colors in the 2014 T-20 World Cup. The dasher made his ODI debut against touring India at Cardiff and then played a series against Sri Lanka, before getting selected to the English squad for the 2015 World Cup, to play two games. 

Hales got his Test cap against South Africa at Dublin in 2015. Later, the Hillingdon-born was part of the English team which went on to the final of World T20 of 2016 and gave his team some astonishing starts during the tournament. After cherishing success, Hales was set to face a downfall in his career. 

After the Bristol nightclub of September 2017, he was suspended from the ODI side in the aftermath of a brawl and was relegated to the role of first reserve opener as Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow started to excel at top of the order. He was also selected to play the 2017 Champions Trophy and played ahead of Bairstow. 

The explosive opener was England’s key cog for the 2019 World Cup, to be played at home. However, after failing the dope test, Hales was sidetracked from the World Cup squad and he missed the chance of becoming part of the World Champion team. Since then, Hales has been completely reprimanded by the English national team. 

Although he has been a swashbuckling asset for the franchise across the globe, the pinch-hitter has represented various clubs in the top leagues like the Indian Premier League, Big Bash League, Pakistan Super League, Caribbean Premier League, and Bangladesh Premier League. The latest addition to the list is going to be 'The Hundred' as the opener has been signed by Trent Rockets for the inaugural edition of the tournament. 

(As of April 2021)