It needs more time before Alex Hales returns to the England side, feels Eoin Morgan

Eoin Morgan, the England ODI and T20I skipper, said that time hasn’t run out for Alex Hales and the Nottinghamshire batsman can still make a comeback to the national side. However, the captain reckons that it would take some time for Hales to gain back the team’s trust after what happened last year when he failed a second test for recreational drugs.

Thereafter, he was provisionally suspended and he lost his place from the 2019 World Cup squad. After the incident, Morgan was furious with him, saying that he lost trust of his teammates. For the time being, the southpaw doesn’t want to bring Hales back into the scheme of things right away.

Morgan also didn’t mince any words in saying that England’s World Cup dreams could easily have been dashed due to Hales misdemeanour.

Time is the only healer: Eoin Morgan

“Alex is in a unique position, probably in a position nobody else has found themselves in before,” Morgan was quoted as saying in Belfast Telegraph.

“On the cusp of a World Cup, the huge breakdown in trust between him and the players was extremely dramatic, given the circumstances surrounding the four years and the build-up and the way things unfolded.

“I’ve spoken to Alex and certainly see an avenue for him to come back to playing cricket but like in life and in any sport, when there’s a breakdown of trust, the only healer in that is time,” Morgan mentioned.

“It’s only been 12 or 13 months since the incident which could have cost us four years of hard work. Given it could have derailed a World Cup campaign, I think it might take some more time, yes,” he added.

Moreover, Eoin Morgan stated that Hales’ place in the Brits’ squad was never in question, based on his potential with the bat in hand. But that he had disregard for the team values didn’t go down well with Morgan.

After being left out of the English side, Hales went on to play in various T20 leagues around the globe. He represented the Barbados Tridents in the CPL, Sydney Thunder in the BBL and the Karachi Kings in the PSL.