Alex Hales’ drive home from the England training camp in Cardiff in April 2019 felt like the longest journey of his life. That morning England’s former managing director, Ashley Giles, had told Hales he was being kicked out of England’s World Cup squad because he had failed a second recreational drugs test.
Hales packed and left without talking to any of his teammates. He was convinced his career was over. He says it was his “lowest moment”. Three years and four months later he is back in the England squad, as a late replacement for the injured Jonny Bairstow. “This feels like a second chance,” he says, “a chance to right the wrongs.”
