How A Phone Call Led To England Storming Into The T20 World Cup Final

A phone call made several months ago was instrumental in Team England cruising into the final of the T20 World Cup. The call was made by the protagonist himself as Alex Hales picked up his mobile and called Rob Key, MD of England cricket, to present his case the moment he heard of Jonny Bairstow’s freak golf accident. Kept out of the England team from before the 2019 World Cup because he had failed a drug test twice, Hales was in cricketing wilderness for three years before he saw a door opening for him. His old partner in opening the innings in white ball cricket Jason Roy was woefully out of form and England’s captain Eoin Morgan had called it quits. Hales backed himself to fill the void. To Key’s credit, he took Hales’ case to the selectors, and they too agreed to give him a chance at redemption. The team management kept their cool as Hales came back into a difficult tour of Pakistan. Having recaptured his form in stands with his skipper Buttler, including in the game against New Zealand in the T20 World Cup league and then against Sri Lanka in a must win game, Hales simply took the Indian bowling attack to the cleaners, treating it with contempt at one of his favourite Adelaide Oval where had once scored a century in the Big Bash.