Alex Hales A Very Fine Player, But England Spoiled For Choices In Top Order - Eoin Morgan On The Opener's Possible Return

England‘s limited-overs captain Eoin Morgan has downplayed the possibility of opener Alex Hales returning to the national set-up having been kept away from the side for more than two years now following his failing of test for recreational drugs twice in March 2019.

Alex Hales has been since showcasing his batting prowess away from international cricket in the franchise leagues and has dominated most of their batting charts. While there remains no doubt over his quality as a top-order batter, Eoin Morgan reckons it is difficult to re-instate him back in the side considering England themselves have an unprecedented choice of high-quality top-order batters – a competition which has seen even Joe Root being slowly pushed away from the T20 team.

“I think when you look at the player that he is and the performances that he puts in around the world, he’s a very fine player. But when you look at the players that we have available to us at the moment were spoiled, and I think the longer you spend out of the side the further away you get from the position you once had,” Eoin Morgan said in a press conference prior to England’s first T20I against Sri Lanka in Cardiff.

“I think looking at our top order at the moment in particular, even behind our top 3 or 4 we have guys sitting behind there that have drastically improved their performance in the international shirt that are taking up a position,” he added.

There are conversations to be had between Alex, myself and the coach: Eoin Morgan

Eoin Morgan also said that he and coach Chris Silverwood will have conversations with Hales regarding the right-hander’s potential future with the national side. Hales was part of England’s rise as a white-ball force leading up to the 2019 World Cup.

However, failing the drug test for the second time saw just before the tournament saw the management drop him from the event. Eoin Morgan has stated he and the team then had trust issues with the opener and hence he hasn’t been recalled since, despite prolific performances around the world in T20 leagues.

“I think there are conversations to be had between Alex, myself and the coach, and potentially a few of the players, but trying to get those happening in Covid times has been an issue. But they could happen at some stage,” the left-hander stated.

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