The opener's return follows Jonny Bairstow's broken leg and the dropping of Jason Roy following a poor summer
Alex Hales has been added to England's squad ahead of the tour of Pakistan and the subsequent T20 World Cup, bringing to an end his three-year exile from the national team.
The Nottinghamshire opener did not feature under Eoin Morgan after failing a recreational drugs test shortly before the 2019 World Cup, with the former captain citing "a breakdown in trust" as he was continually overlooked thereafter.
Hales missed out on the victorious campaign, which ended in dramatic fashion at Lord's, and since then has used his availability – he had already signed a white-ball-only county deal in 2018 – to forge a reputation as one of the leading players on the franchise circuit, including regular success in the Big Bash for Sydney Thunder. Those positive experiences of Australia might just have helped his cause for this recall.
It comes following a turbulent week for England's white-ball team: Jason Roy has been dropped for the winter after a desperate summer in which he struggled for form both domestically and at international level, while Jonny Bairstow – who was earmarked to replace him at the top of the order alongside new captain Jos Buttler – broke his leg during a freak golfing accident.
As such, a surprise berth has opened up alongside Buttler, with Hales, 33, now the favourite to fill it, although Phil Salt is also part of the squad.
Upon his appointment as England's director of cricket, Rob Key insisted that he felt Hales had "served his time" for the indiscretion that led to his original axing, but his return – according to reports – has still required constructive discussions. There have been previous whispers of reintegration, but they have never amounted to anything.
Prior to being dropped in 2019, he had already lost his place once in England's ODI plans; he was suspended in the aftermath of Ben Stokes' arrest in Bristol for his part, which allowed Roy to cement his position.
Alex Hales won The Hundred with Trent Rockets (Alex Davidson/Getty Images)
This decision, then, marks a clear shift from the Morgan tenure and, alongside Roy's exclusion, is the first major move taken by the axis of Buttler and head coach Matthew Mott.
Hales was the fifth-highest run-scorer in The Hundred this year, playing a key role as opening partner to Dawid Malan in Trent Rockets' triumph. Ironically, the four men to compile more runs – Malan, Salt, Adam Lyth and Will Jacks – are also English openers, who might have had a claim to the role alongside Buttler at the top of the innings.
When he wasn't picked in the initial squad, Key confirmed that Hales had called him to discuss his omission.
"I've said on a number of occasions that I feel Alex Hales has served his time for his misdemeanours," he said last Friday, before news of Bairstow's injury had filtered through. "Now it's on form, selection and whether we feel they are the best person to go out there. At the moment we feel Jonny Bairstow is that person.
"I spoke to Alex Hales, he rang me actually, and he argued why he wasn't there and I think that's quite right too. I much prefer when these people pick up the phone and say, 'come on then, why wasn’t I there?' I've a huge amount of respect for that as opposed to people who go behind the scenes moaning about why they've not been picked.
"It's just an unfortunate time where there's a hell of a lot of very good players. People say it's a good problem to have but it's not straightforward with who you pick as a batter in this format of white-ball cricket because there’s so many good options. There's a lot of people who have also missed out who quite rightly could have said 'how come I'm not in?'"
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