Alex Hales is looking forward to establishing a one-day international opening partnership with Alastair Cook, despite calls for the England captain to quit limited-overs cricket.
Former England off-spinner Graeme Swann, labelled a “so-called friend” by Cook earlier in the week, reiterated Friday his calls for the skipper to quit playing in the one-day international format.
England's 133-run loss to world champions India in the second of a five-match one-day series in Cardiff on Wednesday led to wide condemnation of the team. The third match begins today at Trent Bridge, Nottingham.
Hales, who made his ODI debut in the loss, said: “Everyone’s entitled to their opinion, but the guys in the dressing-room are 100 per cent behind Alastair.
“If you look at his record in one-day cricket, it’s a pretty good one.”
Cook has a strike rate of nearly 80 in ODI cricket.
“All the guys are backing him to lead from the front as we look to bounce back in this series,” Hales said. “We’ve just played one game and we got off to a pretty good start with a fifty partnership.
“He’s a very technically sound guy, and he’s the right guy at the top of the order. If we both play our natural games, I hope that partnership will come together nicely.”
In Hales’s previous England appearance at Trent Bridge, he scored 99 in a Twenty20 international against the West Indies two years ago.
Hales, who scored England’s first century in cricket’s shortest format against Sri Lanka at the World Twenty20 in March, said he was looking forward to representing his country again in Nottingham. “I’m expecting a very good wicket,” he said. “Usually the one-day wickets we play on here at Notts are outstanding batting tracks, and I’m expecting a high-scoring game.”
Hales, 25, said the team mood could stand some improvement, as could their performance.
“We’re not hiding from the fact it was a poor team performance all around,” he said. “But we spoke about it, wiped the slate clean.”
Meanwhile, India opener Rohit Sharma was ruled out of the remainder of the series after suffering a broken finger. Murali Vijay will fly to England as his replacement but is unlikely to be selected for today’s match.
Sharma appeared to sustain the injury while fielding during the win in Cardiff. He made 52 with the bat in his innings.
Vijay opened throughout India’s preceding 3-1 loss to England in a five-Test series, but the Indians are expected today to consider using Ajinkya Rahane and Ambati Rayudu at the top of the order.
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