Hales withdrawn from England WC squad

LONDON: England batsman Alex Hales will not feature at the World Cup after being withdrawn from all international squads following an off-field incident not related to cricket, the England and Wales Cricket Board said on Monday.

Hales was included in the 15-man preliminary World Cup squad for the tournament in England and Wales but it emerged last week that he had been sanctioned under the ECBs disciplinary policy for a second time. A report in the Guardian newspaper said the hard-hitting batsman was serving a ban from cricket for recreational drug use.

A spokesman for Hales on Friday confirmed the Nottinghamshire batsman had been suspended “following an off-field incident last year”.An ECB statement on Monday said: “Alex Hales has been withdrawn from all England squads ahead of the international season.” Hales’ latest misdemeanour comes just a few months after he was suspended and fined by the ECB for his part in a street brawl in Bristol also involving Ben Stokes in September 2017. The 30-year-old has been stood down from this Friday’s one-off one-day international against Ireland in Malahide, the upcoming limited-overs matches against Pakistan and the World Cup. Hales has played 11 Tests, 70 one-day internationals and 60 Twenty20 internationals but is now regarded as a white-ball specialist.

Meanwhile Alex Hales’s representatives said on Monday he was “devastated” by the England and Wales Cricket Board’s (ECB) treatment of the batsman after he was ejected from the preliminary World Cup squad. Hales’s management company, the 366 Group, said the player was “devastated” after assurances from the ECB were apparently “rendered meaningless”. It said in a statement: “We are hugely disappointed at the treatment of our client, Alex Hales, by the ECB.” Hales has played 11 Tests, 70 one-day internationals and 60 Twenty20 internationals but is now regarded as a white-ball specialist.

Afghan squad upbeat ahead of WC: Afghanistan’s cricket team are upbeat about their chances at next month’s World Cup, skipper Gulbadin Naib said Monday, after the squad spent several weeks training in South Africa. Naib said conditions in South Africa, with bouncy wickets and good pitches, were similar to what they expect in Britain. Naib earlier this month was named as captain, replacing Asghar Afghan who has still been included in the squad. The move sparked some controversy coming so close to the World Cup, but the 28-year-old Naib dismissed the row as overblown, saying it was “no big deal” and that the team had several other players with captaincy experience.