Repentant Alex Hales determined to grab ‘chance to right the wrongs’

Alex Hales’ drive home from the England training camp in Cardiff in April 2019 felt like the longest journey of his life. That morning England’s former managing director, Ashley Giles, had told Hales he was being kicked out of England’s World Cup squad because he had failed a second recreational drugs test.

Hales packed and left without talking to any of his teammates. He was convinced his career was over. He says it was his “lowest moment”. Three years and four months later he is back in the England squad, as a late replacement for the injured Jonny Bairstow. “This feels like a second chance,” he says, “a chance to right the wrongs.”

There have been a few of them. Last November photos emerged of Hales wearing blackface while dressed as Tupac Shakur at a party in 2009. He apologised then and does so again now. “I was a dumb 19-year-old who had no idea of the ramifications of what he was doing,” he says.

“I was just trying to dress as my music idol without really knowing the offence it would cause. When those images got released it was very shameful.” At the same time he was accused by Azeem Rafiq of naming his dog ’Kevin’ in reference to a catch-all name to describe black and brown players.

Hales strongly denied there were any racial connotations to the name and says it was “dealt with internally” in an investigation by the England and Wales Cricket Board, “and everyone is happy where it’s at”. England’s captain, Jos Buttler, says all the senior players in the current squad agreed with the decision to recall him.

It has taken Hales a long time to win back their trust. Some of those relationships, like the one with his former captain Eoin Morgan, who said Hales had shown a “complete disregard” for the team’s values, will