A distraught, but determined Alex Hales makes a public apology after recreational drug ban

The last few months haven’t gone down well for England batsman Alex Hales. The 30-year-old cricketer was tested positive for a recreational drug. The batter was slapped with a 21-day ban. To rub salt to the wounds, his name was withdrawn from the ODI series against Pakistan and especially, the ICC World Cup at home, which is currently in the semi-finals phase.

ECB Managing Director of England Men’s Cricket, Ashley Giles and England National Cricket Selectors, Ed Smith, took the decision to withdraw hales from the World Cup. Giles said that the national team’s players should be free from any sort of distractions and need to focus only on being successful on the cricket pitch.

Alex Hales vents out his frustration

In the meantime, Hales is absolutely disturbed after the developments following the mishap. The Nottingham-born made a public apology for letting his near and dear ones down. However, Hales is a determined lot and he wishes to put his focus on cricket, parking aside the setbacks.

“I just wanted to apologize to you guys for everything that happened. I got the point across that I had not just let myself down; I had let down my family, friends, team-mates. I had to get that off my chest,” Hales was quoted as saying in a video released by Nottinghamshire to promote their Twenty20 Blast campaign.

“I wanted to tell you guys how I was feeling and then just to finish off, wanted them to know I was 100 per cent focused on the cricket now, wanted to move forward, to put those mistakes of the past behind me,” the tainted cricketer added.

After Hales was tested positive, Brits’ limited-overs skipper Eoin Morgan lashed out at him. The captain mentioned that Hales’ actions completely showed ‘disregard’ towards the team’s values. Morgan also stated that the incident has created a lack of trust between Hales and the others.

Meanwhile, Hales has continued with his stint for Nottinghamshire in the domestic circuit. He had scores of 36, 54 and 59 to put forth his batting prowess. The right-handed batsman is now set to ply his trade in the T20 Blast, which is scheduled to get underway on July 18.