I'm the one who drops out once Stokes comes back: Alex Hales

The World No. 1 ODI side England are currently playing Australia in the five-match ODI series. The hosts are leading the series 2-0 with three more games to go. While Eoin Morgan took his team to victory in the first One Day International, it was Jason Roy, the reason behind England’s victory in the second ODI.

Under-performing Alex Hales slid down the batting order to No. 3 position owing to the brilliant performances from Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow. The 29-year-old feels he is on the verge of being axed from the team if he doesn’t come up with a big score in the remaining ODIs of the series.

“I’ve got to try and get my place back,” Hales said ahead of the third ODI as quoted by ESPN Cricinfo. “I guess now I’m in that position where I’m on the fringes and any chance I can get, it’s up to me to convert big runs and put some pressure on Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow. They have come in and done really well since the West Indies series last September. Jonny’s been knocking the door down for a few years now and every time he got a chance, he took it.

England announced the squad for the last three ODIs of the series and their all-rounders Chris Woakes and Ben Stokes got ruled out of all three games. This means Alex Hales is going to get three more chances in this series and he has to score big to live up to the team management’s expectations.

“Looking at the way things are now, I’m the one who drops out once Stokes comes back. That’s what happened when we went from Australia into the New Zealand series. But things can change quickly. It’s up to me to use these three games well and try and score as many runs as possible. It’s up to me to make sure I can stay in form, stay confident and keeping putting pressure on those two,” he added.

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