T20 WC, Alex Hales clubs his 11th T20I fifty: Stats
English opener Alex Hales hoarded a fine 40-ball 52 against New Zealand in Tuesday's Super 12 clash of the ICC T20 World Cup. The stylish batter plundered seven fours and a six before being stumped out to spinner Ish Sodhi. Striking his 11th T20I fifty, Hales surpassed Chris Gayle and Ross Taylor in the overall run-tally. We decode his stats.
Hales paves the way for England
Hales stitched a crucial 81-run stand with skipper Jos Buttler for the opening wicket in the coveted affair at the Gabba. England beat Afghanistan before suffering an agonizing five-run defeat to Ireland (DLS method) in the T20 WC underway, besides a no-result against arch-nemesis Australia.
Decoding Hales' T20I career
Hales debuted against India in 2011. Since then, the prolific batter has hoarded 1,940 runs across 72 matches. He averages 29.84 and has an impressionable strike rate of 136.61 (100s: 1, 50s: 11). He has been all class at home, having accumulated 770 runs at 45.29. Meanwhile, he owns 720 and 450 runs at away and neutral venues, averaging 23.22 and 26.47, respectively.
Hales surpasses Gayle, Taylor's T20I run-tally
Hales (1,940) pipped batting greats, namely Sri Lanka's Tillakaratne Dilshan (1,889), West Indies' Gayle (1,899), NZ's Taylor (1,909), and South Africa's JP Duminy (1,934) in terms of runs in T20 Internationals.
An all-time great in T20 cricket
Hales (10,400) is the eighth-highest run-scorer in T20 cricket. He ranks behind Chris Gayle (14,562), Kieron Pollard (11,915), Shoaib Malik (11,902), Virat Kohli (11,186), David Warner (11,055), Aaron Finch (10,964), and Rohit Sharma (10,659). Notably, Hales has notched five tons and 66 fifties.
Hales had returned after over three years
Back in 2019, Hales was dropped for failing an ECB recreational drug test for the second time. He was also not included in England's World Cup squad that year. Former England skipper Eoin Morgan had said back in 2020 that Hales can have a future if he regains the trust of the team management. Hales returned during the seven-match T20Is in Pakistan in September.
