‘Lekin jaane ki baari toh Anderson ki thi’ – Fans react as Alex Hales announces retirement from international cricket

England opener Alex Hales announced his retirement from international cricket aged 34. He retires from the England outfit with a T20 World Cup in his CV with his last game being the five-wicket win over Pakistan at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in November 2022.

“It has been an absolute privilege to have represented my country on 156 occasions across all three formats,” Hales said in a statement as reported by ESPN Cricinfo. “l’ve made some memories and some friendships to last a lifetime and I feel that now is the right time to move on. Throughout my time in an England shirt, I’ve experienced some of the highest highs as well as some of the lowest lows. It’s been an incredible journey and I feel very content that my last game for England was winning a World Cup final,” he added.

‘I look forward to more franchise cricket around the world’ – Alex Hales

“Throughout the ups and downs, I’ve always felt a huge amount of support from my friends, family, and undoubtedly the best fans in world cricket. I look forward to continuing to play for Notts and experiencing more franchise cricket around the world,” he concluded.

Alex Hales made his international debut for England in a T20I against India. His ODI and Test debut followed years later in 2014 and 2015, respectively. The opener scored 5000+ runs for the Three Lions across formats. He scored 2419 ODI runs at 37.79, including six centuries, and is one of the three batters to have surpassed 2000 T20I runs with one hundred in the shortest format of the game that came against Sri Lanka.

Reportedly, Hales was in communication with the England Cricket Board over the last nine months. He was weighing to balance bilateral commitments with the national team and his franchise contracts. Upon much consideration, the opening batter chose to bow out of international cricket citing his commitments with short-form leagues around the world.

Here’s how fans reacted to the shocking announcement:

https://twitter.com/shovi66/status/1687419692468649984