Alex Hales announce retirement from international cricket with immediate effect

England's opening batter Alex Hales has announced his retirement from international cricket with immediate effect. He made his debut against India in a one-off T20I game in 2011. Notably, in that game, Virat Kohli made a record of taking a wicket on zero ball. Meanwhile, three years later, Hales made his ODI debut against the same side. Talking about limited-overs cricket, the right-hander played 70 ODIs and 75 T20Is.

The South African descent has also played 11 Tests but without much success. Hales' best innings came against Pakistan when he got 171. This helped the team reach 444/3 runs, the then-highest team total. He last played an ODI game against West Indies in early 2019. A month before the ODI World Cup that year, the Nottingham Outlaws player failed a drug test. This was the reason he was withdrawn from the squad.

Since then, the former Mumbai Indians player never played under Morgan and ODI cricket in general. The former might have retired without a World Cup medal if not for Jonny Bairstow's injury in a golf club. This led to Hales making his comeback for T20 World Cup 2022. His last T20I game was the final against Pakistan which the team won.

It has been an absolute privilege to play for England: Alex Hales

Since the T20 World Cup last year, Hales didn't play for England. The Islamabad United player in the PSL withdrew from white-ball games against Bangladesh during the Indian-subcontinent winters.

"It has been an absolute privilege to have represented my country on 156 occasions across all three formats," Hales said in a statement seen by ESPNcricinfo before publication. "l've made some memories and some friendships to last a lifetime and I feel that now is the right time to move on.

"Throughout my time in an England shirt I've experienced some of the highest highs as well as some of the lowest lows. It's been an incredible journey and I feel very content that my last game for England was winning a World Cup final."