Repentant Alex Hales determined to grab ‘chance to right the wrongs’
Repentant Alex Hales determined to grab ‘chance to right the wrongs’: Alex Hales commute back to London from the April 2019 England training camp in Cardiff was the longest he had ever experienced.
After failing a second recreational drugs test that morning, England’s former managing director Ashley Giles informed Hales that he was being removed from the World Cup squad.
Hales abruptly quit his team and didn’t say goodbye to anyone. He thought his time as a professional athlete was finished. It was the “lowest point” of his life, he adds.
It has taken three years and four months, but he has finally made it back into the England camp as a late replacement for the injured Jonny Bairstow. It’s like he’s getting a do-over, he says.
Quite a few of them can be found in history. In November of 2016, images surfaced showing Hales at a 2009 party dressed as Tupac Shakur, in which he can be seen clearly wearing blackface. He has already apologised for it, and he’s doing it again now. I was a naive 19-year-old who didn’t think about the consequences of his actions, he adds.
Not realising the potential for offence, I dressed myself like my favourite musician. It was terribly embarrassing when those pictures leaked. At the same time, Azeem Rafiq said that he had named his dog Kevin, a term often used to refer to black and brown athletes.
Statement
According to Hales, the issue was “dealt with internally” by the England and Wales Cricket Board investigation, and now “everyone is pleased where it’s at.”
Hales further denied that the name had any racist overtones. According to England’s captain Jos Buttler, the senior players in the current England squad unanimously supported the decision to recall him.
For Hales to regain their confidence was a lengthy and arduous process.
Hales’s relationship with his former captain, Eoin Morgan, is one example; Morgan felt that Hales had displayed “total disrespect” for the team’s beliefs. Hales claims they haven’t talked much since, despite often facing off in games. He owns up to the fact that he was raging inside at the time.
But who can you be truly upset at? I took the blame, didn’t I? What I did, I did of my own volition. He says, “All I have to do is raise my hands.” It’s up to you to assess your actions and determine how to improve.
Hales’ old team won the World Cup at Lord’s ten weeks after his lonely voyage home. Among the most out-of-the-ordinary experiences in my life. I experienced all the elation of England’s World Cup victory, and then you’re thinking, “I should have been there.”
A lot of agony was involved. If you’re a cricket player and you’re on the team that’s going to win the World Cup, but you get injured the day before the tournament starts, that’s your worst nightmare. It was incredible to witness the team’s victory, but you can’t help but feel that a piece of you is missing since you weren’t there.
Declarations
The incident, according to Hales, motivated him “to grow as a person and a cricketer” so that he might earn his spot back in the team. Unfortunately, he misjudged the length of time that would be required.
He claims that “three years is a very, very long time,”, especially in the context of an athlete’s career. There were times when I worried I’d never get this opportunity again.
This was especially disheartening for Hales because he was in the best professional shape of his life. He stopped playing first-class cricket in 2017 and one-day cricket in 2019, limiting himself instead to Twenty20 competition.
It was a huge game-changer and we decided to stick with only one format. Being able to focus solely on one medium has greatly improved my performance. However, “when you’ve got a group that’s settled and a captain who is pleased with where everything is, it’s just the price you have to pay,” he explains.
Buttler’s appointment as white-ball captain and Rob Key’s arrival as England’s managing director marked a turning point. Hales claims he gets along well with both men and that they’ve always treated him well. He called Key to inquire why he was not included in England’s squad for the upcoming trip and T20 World Cup.
Remarks
“I had to sort of psych myself up to do it a little bit,” Hales recalls his decision to call the coach and inquire about the reason for his absence. But since he was no longer part of the team, he figured he had nothing to lose by making the call.
If the group was selected just based on cricketing ability, I believed I deserved to be a part of it. Therefore, I thought it only fair to ask why I had been passed over. I was curious about my current status. Whether they were telling the media that I had a shot to play, I needed to know if that was true.
Hales built himself up to such a state that he had to send Key a message a couple of hours later to apologize for losing his cool. Not to worry, Key reassured him. The decision proved prudent when Bairstow was injured and England suddenly required a replacement opener.
Hales had planned to spend the first four weeks of his vacation in Cape Town with his girlfriend. He explains, “I’m incredibly proud to get this opportunity again at this moment, and I’m looking forward to it because I believe I can help propel this squad ahead.”
This is a chance he’s been hoping for for a long time. Now that the time has come, he undoubtedly has something to prove.
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