I Think Alex Hales Just Wants To Know Where He Stands: Shane Bond

Former New Zealand bowler and the head coach of BBL franchise Sydney Thunder, Shane Bond has said that discarded English International Alex Hales may be getting to a point where he is likely to serve a longer ban as compared to what he would have served in official capacity had he found guilty of match-fixing.

Alex Hales hasn’t played for England since the start of the 2019 summer when he was removed from the preliminary World Cup squad due to the ‘breach of trust with his teammates after he indulged in taking drugs.

Hales has been in the form of his life in franchise cricket in the past year or so and the calls for him to return to the side have only increased following a blockbuster BBL season where he smashed 543 runs at a strike-rate of 161.

England captain Eoin Morgan seemed to have fuelled the chances of Hales making a comeback in the white-ball set-up in an interview earlier this week but he subsequently shrugged off his chances of making it to the T20 World Cup squad, stating that the T20 squad is more or less settled.

Morgan, however, added that ‘time is a healer’ but Shane Bond feels that Alex Hales needs to be told by the think-tank exactly what he needs to do to make a comeback.

“Look, there’s no doubt that England have some outstanding players but my frustration is – and I don’t know all the ins and outs of what has gone on – that if you’re going to be selected or not selected again then you need to know one way or the other,” Shane Bond was quoted as saying by inews.co.uk.

“You also need to know what you need to do to get back into the team. Alex has clearly made some mistakes, but if you’ve done your time then you need to understand that there’s a pathway back,” he added.

“I think Alex just wants to know where he stands. If it’s about trust then he needs to know what he needs to do to get over that and what he needs to do to get that chance. How long do you have to wait – four years, five years? You get longer for match-fixing. It’s a strange one for me.” said Shane Bond.

Shane Bond, who has coached Alex Hales at Sydney Thunder, heaped high praise on the English swashbuckler, stating that the opening batsman has increased his range and while he was always a good leg-side player, he is now equally good when it comes to playing his strokes on the off-side.

“He has always been a very good leg-side player but he played some outstanding shots on the off-side against the spinner [in the Big Bash] and he’s really expanding his game in that area. That’s what separates the good players from the very good players – Alex is always looking to improve and he’s still looking for ways to improve that off-side game,” he said.

“He was very difficult to bowl to – you had guys firing it out wide and he would be whacking them over extra-cover for six. They had nowhere to go.” Bond added.

Also Read: Very Difficult To Get Back In The Squad – Eoin Morgan On Alex Hales’ Chances Of Returning Before The T20 World Cup