Alex Hales says Sunday’s ICC World T20 Final against the West Indies is the biggest game of his career.
The 27-year-old, who is ranked third in the world in T20 cricket, has played consistent cameos at the top of order during the competition so far, and is challenging himself to go big in Kolkata.
“It’s the biggest occasion so far in my career,” he said. “Any World Cup Final is a massive occasion in a player’s career. Potentially it could be the only chance you get.
“As a squad we’re going to give it a good crack as we have done all tournament.
“For me personally, I’ve had a couple of starts and decent partnerships with Jason (Roy) to get us off and running.
“That can sometimes be the way in T20 cricket, it can be a tough game in which to contribute with big scores game in game out, it’s maybe one game in four or five.
“I’ve played four now in this World Cup, so hopefully that match-winning knock can come in the final.”
While Hales’ knock of 20 in the semi-final was a far cry from his opening partner’s match-winning maiden half-century, 82 runs were on the board after 8.2 overs by the time of the Notts Outlaws opener’s dismissal.
As part of an opening pairing that has flourished consistently in both 20 and 50 over cricket since being united early in the 2015 season, it was an important innings, although Hales denies deliberately playing a supporting role.
“It wasn’t really a decision,” he said. “I try to play my own game, not think about what Jason’s doing, although he’s obviously great to watch from the other end.
“You could see it coming for the last few games, particularly against South Africa, I knew a match-winning knock wasn’t far around the corner.
“To be there for over 80 runs in that partnership, it was brilliant for the team. We’ve got something good going at the top of the order and hopefully we can take that into Sunday.”
England’s run to the final of the competition has not only made a mockery of their status as outsiders, Eoin Morgan’s men have also defied their lack of experience on the international stage, particularly in India.
Hales believes naivety within the group has proved to be a positive ingredient, although he admits there has also been some fortune along the way.
“The group we’ve got have come through the age groups together and we’ve been together as a squad since the embarrassment of last year’s 50-over World Cup," he said.
“It’s a new bunch of guys with loads of talent and with no baggage from the past and we enjoy each other’s success.
“The two venues we have played at have helped. Mumbai is a very batter friendly wicket with loads of runs in it, and in Delhi we were lucky to play three games in a row when New Zealand hadn’t played there ahead of the semi-final.
“We’ve had stuff go our way, but that doesn’t change the fact that we’ve played some brilliant cricket and entertained the world with what we have done.”
England have been on the brink of elimination from the tournament on a number of occasions, but – since the opening game defeat to the West Indies left them without margin for error – they have always found a way to win.
The batsmen chased down 230 to beat South Africa, the lower order recovered from 85-7 against Afghanistan and Chris Jordan’s death bowling brilliance prevented Sri Lanka from converting a winning position in England’s final must win fixture of the group stages.
The most complete performance came in the recent victory over New Zealand in the semi-final; something that bodes well for their chances in the final, according to Hales.
“In previous matches we had batted brilliantly & batted terribly and the same goes for the bowling & in the field as well,” he said.
“That game against New Zealand was one where we got everything right.
“We can’t be complacent going into the final, but we are definitely heading down the right path.
“It’s really important that we don’t change anything that we’ve done.
“Since the first game we’ve played some really good cricket, we’ve put together a really good run of form and, as we’ve seen, in T20 momentum can be everything.
“It’s important that we don’t change any of or preparation or anything that we’ve done in the game time either.
“We’ll keep everything the same, but hopefully we can change the outcome from what it was in the opening game.”
England are returning to the scene of their Ashes triumph in 2016 for Royal London One-Day Internationals against Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
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