‘T20 is the format I enjoy playing more’ – Alex Hales
Earlier this year, Alex Hales and Adil Rashid created a flutter by signing ‘white ball only’ deals with their counties – Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire respectively – putting themselves out of contention for selection in the England Test team.
Since then, New Zealand’s Colin Munro has done the same, and Hales explained that as far as he was concerned, the idea was to maximise his potential in the short formats keeping in mind the upcoming ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 and the ICC World Twenty20 2020.
“I always wanted to become the best I could be,” he said as he got ready for Sunrisers Hyderabad’s campaign in the 2018 Indian Premier League, where he has come in as David Warner’s replacement.
England opener Alex Hales talks about his form in 2016 and his hopes for a huge season in 2017 with England hosting the ICC Champions Trophy
“The quality in England is incredible, and there’s only so much you can do as a player to realise your ambitions. I want to play as much as I can, and I see the shorter formats as my best chance to become world-class.”
The opening batsman, who has played 11 Tests, 59 one-day internationals and 52 Twenty20 Internationals over the years, clarified that he wasn’t ruling out a return to red-ball cricket.
“It’s not a long-term view. We’ll see what happens in 18 months, next September. There is the 2019 World Cup at home next year, and then the Twenty20 World Cup in 2020. Let’s see how it goes,” he said. “It’s a completely personal decision. Twenty20 is the format I have enjoyed playing in more. And the next 18 months are more exciting if you are a white-ball player.”
Hales was also upfront in admitting that he found switching between the long format and the shorter ones difficult: “I feel that chopping and changing formats is tough at times. I think I would rather try to become world-class in two of the formats. Red-ball cricket is the pinnacle, I have no doubt about that. But there’s so much cricket around the world, practically every country has a T20 tournament … so it’s about individual choices.”
There remains the possibility that more players could yet opt to specialise in the more lucrative T20 format. Hales saw nothing wrong with that.
“The next 10 years, I see more and more people specialising in white-ball cricket. That’s the way I see it, and I see nothing wrong in that. It raises the standard on the whole,” he said. “If you specialise in one format, players dedicate their practice and training to that format, and getting their focus right. I think it will help all the formats.”