'The drive home was probably the worst I've ever felt in life' - Alex Hales reminisces feeling of being dropped from WC squad

Alex Hales last played an international match for his country in March 2019. After that, just months before the 2019 World Cup, the England opener was found to have used recreational drugs. He was immediately dropped from the World Cup squad.

And now, almost 2 years after the incident, Hales has opened up about the sickening feeling that he experienced after being dropped from the England team. Hales said that the feeling was almost indescribable and he found it difficult to even put it into words.

He further added that the drive back home after hearing the news was the worst he has ever experienced in his life. The 32-year-old shed light about the same in a chat with Sky Sports.

“At first, watching the whole thing unfold was sickening. It is really quite hard to put into words that feeling when you’re told the bad news. That drive home was probably the worst I’ve ever felt in my life,” said Hales.

Two years is a very long time: Alex Hales

Alex Hales also added that two years is indeed a very long period of time in a sportsman’s career. The England batsman revealed that he had sent a message to England limited overs skipper Eoin Morgan last year in April, but Morgan was not ready to talk about it. However, Hales still wants to have more conversations regarding the matter and is still hopeful of regaining back the lost trust.

“I feel like two years is a very long time in an international sportsman’s career – two years is a very long time at the peak of your cricket. I sent a message to Morgie around April last year, just as we went into lockdown, but obviously it’d only been a year since it happened, so he wasn’t ready to talk about anything like that. I’d like to have some conversations with some people over, hopefully, the next couple of months and see how I can go about regaining trust as I’m currently not around the squad,” concluded Hales.

Hales represented the England side in 69 ODI’s and 60 T20Is. While he scored 2419 runs in the ODI format, he scored 1644 runs in T20I’s for his country. It remains to be seen if Hales can once again get to wear the England jersey in the future.