Hales thinks about white ball not Tests in SA

Cricket365
November 21, 2015

England opener Alex Hales says he just wants to concentrate on the upcoming limited-overs series against Pakistan and not about the prospect of making his Test debut against South Africa next month.

The Three Lions play Pakistan in four ODIs and three T20s, starting on Wednesday in Abu Dhabi, but one could forgive Hales if his thoughts were to be somewhere on the African continent.

The Nottinghamshire player is in line to make his Test debut against the number one ranked team in the world, against arguably the best pace attack going around.

Hales was selected in the squad for the three-match Test series against Pakistan but did not play because Moeen Ali was promoted from the middle-order to open the batting as England wanted to play two spinners on the slower surfaces.

Moeen only scored 84 runs across six innings at an average of jusrt 14 and it is thought that the Three Lions will revert to the more conventional Hales for the Proteas Tests.

Hales however is a regular in the T20 and ODI sides and said his focus will be in Asia and on the white ball.

The 26 year-old Hales said: "Opening the batting for England in all three formats has been a dream for me ever since I was a toddler, so if I do get the opportunity it would be a dream come true and hopefully the start of something for me.

"This is a different format, against very different opposition, to what we'll face in the Test series in South Africa. So I'm not going to look too far ahead to that series.

"Any time you play international cricket is a chance to show how skilful you are and cement your place in the side, and that's something I'm looking to do in this series."