As Alex Hales joins ranks of white-ball specialists, cricketers' federation chief warns of 'shockwaves' to come

Hales turning his back on red-ball cricket will make England take notice of a trend that has already been damaging poorer cricketing nations

Alex Hales has turned his back on red ball cricket (Getty)

The decision of Alex Hales to turn his back on red ball cricket will have sent ‘shockwaves’ through the world game – and could be the precursor for a flood of others to follow.

That’s the view of Tony Irish, the head of the Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations (FICA), who believes that Hales and Rashid have illustrated just how under threat the games traditional formats are.

Both Rashid and Hales played Test cricket for England as recently as 2016 but now neither will play any red ball for the foreseeable future after announcing their intention to focus purely on short format cricket.

Hales decision came after lengthy discussions with Nottinghamshire that began as far back as December, with the England one-day opener following the lead of Rashid – England’s leading wicket-taker on their Test tour last winter - in effectively drawing stumps on his Test career.


 Hales in action for England against an Australia XI this winter 
 (Getty)

Both decisions come as a hammer-blow to the County Championship which, like Test cricket, now appears to be under threat like never before.

Irish, though, believes that English cricket is merely reflecting a wider global trend.

“From a FICA point of view, we’ve been flagging this issue of player free-agency, or even partial free-agency for a long time,” he tells Independent Sport.

“This phenomenon has hit the West Indies and a lot of cricket’s smaller countries some time ago and now it’s a trend that is hitting English cricket.

“It’s a trend that’s going to continue and until the schedule is sorted out, we’re going to see more and more of it.

“You’re just in the beginning phases of it in England and it will eventually impact on Test cricket in there.

“It underscores the real importance of addressing the entire cricket structure holistically at the ICC level. It’s not something that can be solved in one country or another.

“If it’s happening elsewhere it eventually effects Test cricket in England because the Test game around the world is weakening.


 Alex Hales in action for England last summer 
 (Getty)

"I think the fact its happening in England is what will send shockwaves through world cricket.

“We’ve seen a lot of it in South Africa already and I’m sure that plenty of Australian cricketers will be watching what Alex and Adil have done and think about doing similar.”

Hales played seven matches in Nottinghamshire’s promotion winning season from Division Two last year but his England commitments, along with his desire to prove himself in tournaments like the Indian Premier League (IPL), mean that Trent Bridge regulars will now have to watch him in T20 or 50 over cricket rather than in the traditional format.

Hales wasn’t picked up in this year’s IPL auction but Mike Newell, Nottinghamshire’s director of cricket remains hopeful that the county’s decision to award him a white ball contract is proved to be the correct one.

“We probably felt this was coming with a player like Alex,” says Newell.

“The only surprise is that it has come a year earlier than maybe we would have thought. The difference here is the demands on their time that international white ball cricket is placing on them.

“They are restricted in their ability to play red ball anyway and I think they are choosing to focus on the formats of the game in which they represent their country.

“The key thing is that they’re international cricketers, not just county cricketers. I don’t think our members expect to see Alex too much in four-day cricket. If he only wants to play two formats then our priority is to ensure that he plays those formats for Notts.”

Regardless of the views of Trent Bridge and Headingley regulars, the decision of both players has the support of the Professional Cricketers Association (PCA).


 Hales has the support of Notts, who he helped win their first trophy since 2013 last year (Getty )
 (Getty)

“Ultimately every player has the right to choose their own career path and make their own decisions to sign white ball cricket only contracts,” says Daryl Mitchell, PCA chairman.

“Our role is to champion the interests of professional cricketers and as the global game evolves and flexibility around contracts becomes more frequent, it is key the players take the right advice in order to make the right decision for them at specific times in their careers.

“At present this is a very small minority of players, although, as the global game develops it wouldn’t be a surprise to see more players taking this route to help them reach their career goals.”

The ECB must hope that playing Test cricket, as well as the sport’s shorter formats, remains the goal of aspiring young players coming through the system.

Whether that’s no longer the case already must be a matter for debate.