Hales smashes 110 in record Big Bash score

Adelaide (Agencies): Former England captain Michael Vaughan says England and Alex Hales need to “resolve their issues” after the opener smashed 110 off 56 balls for Sydney Thunder in Australia’s Big Bash League.

Hales has not played for England since March 2019 after reportedly failing a drugs test. On Thursday national selector Ed Smith said he “expected things to stay as they are” but “no doors are closed”. “I’d like to see him get another opportunity,” Vaughan said. “He’s too good a player. He gets hundreds in Twenty20 cricket, not many people can do that.” In May 2020 England limited-overs captain Eoin Morgan said that “more time” was needed before Hales returned to the side.

However, Vaughan, speaking on the Test Match Special podcast, disagreed: “There has been enough time now between what happened before the World Cup – England were right to get rid of him before then – but since then he’s played so well, particularly over the past year.

“I just think he gets in England’s best six or seven batsmen and for that reason I believe time is a great healer. “I just hope they can manage it correctly – get in a room and whatever the issues are, whether it’s the selectors, Eoin Morgan, the management, who knows, but he’s certainly playing well enough to be considered and be considered quite strictly.” The opener, 32, hit nine fours and eight sixes, reaching his century off only 51 deliveries, as Thunder posted a Big Bash League record score of 232-5 against Sydney Sixers in Adelaide. Hales is the leading run-scorer in this season’s Big Bash with 462 at an average of 38.50 and strike-rate of almost 166.

He struck left-arm spinner Steve O’Keefe for three sixes and took 18 off four successive deliveries from Dan Christian, who returned figures of 0-48 from three overs. The top-of-the-table Sixers managed 186-5 in reply as they lost by 46 runs. Victory lifted the Thunder up to third in the table, five points behind their city rivals. The top four teams reach the play-offs, which start on 29 January.