As a substitute for the in-form Jonny Bairstow, opening batsman Alex Hales was called up to England's squad on Thursday for the ICC Men's T20 World Cup in Australia. The 33-year-old Hales has also been named to the England team for the seven T20Is in Pakistan.
Hales's three-year absence from international cricket, which began with his final appearance for England in March 2019, is also over. He was disqualified from the 2019 ODI World Cup, which England won at home, due to a failed test for recreational drugs.
Eoin Morgan, the captain at the time, frequently blamed Hales' dismissal from the England team on a "total breakdown in trust."
Hales's comeback to international cricket has become possible as a result of Morgan's retirement from the game, Jos Buttler's elevation to captain, Jason Roy's rapid deterioration of form, and Bairstow's odd left ankle injury sustained last week after tripping on a golf course.
Hales, a well-known figure in T20 franchise competitions during his absence from international cricket, contributed 259 runs at a strike rate of 152.35 to Trent Rockets, the team that won this year's men's Hundred. Together with left-handed batter Dawid Malan, another member of the England team, he made a potent opening pair.
He passed the 10,000 run mark in T20 cricket en route, becoming the first player from England to do so.
On September 2, England's managing director for men, Rob Key, announced that Hales had called him up and was arguing for his recall to international cricket by being included in the initial team for the T20 World Cup.
"From what we've discussed, there really hasn't been a problem as far as we were concerned. We were able to limit our discussion to form. And see, Alex Hales and I spoke. He actually called me and explained his absence, and I believe he had a good point.
"When these folks call back and say, "Come on then, why wasn't I there?" I really enjoy that. When people go behind the scenes and complain about why they weren't chosen for something, I have a lot more regard for those people. You notice that there are a number of extremely good players at this sad time."
"People claim that this is a nice thing to have, but choosing a batter in this type of white-ball cricket is difficult because there are so many qualified candidates. There are many more who were left out and may have legitimately asked, "How come I'm not in?""
Since making his debut for England in 2011, Hales has participated in 60 T20 Internationals, scoring 1,644 runs at an average of 31.01 with a strike rate of 136.65. He scored the first international T20 hundred for England in 2014 at the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh, with a match-winning 116 not out off 64 balls against Sri Lanka.
Jos Buttler (captain), Moeen Ali, Harry Brook, Sam Curran, Alex Hales, Chris Jordan, Liam Livingstone, Dawid Malan, Adil Rashid, Phil Salt, Ben Stokes, Reece Topley, David Willey, Chris Woakes, and Mark Wood make up the England squad for the Men's T20 World Cup and three T20 Internationals against Australia.
Liam Dawson, Tymal Mills, and Richard Gleeson are the travelling reserves.
England squad for tour of Pakistan: Jos Buttler (Captain), Moeen Ali (Vice-Captain), Harry Brook, Jordan Cox, Sam Curran, Ben Duckett, Liam Dawson, Richard Gleeson, Alex Hales, Tom Helm, Will Jacks, Dawid Malan, Adil Rashid, Phil Salt, Olly Stone, Reece Topley, David Willey, Chris Woakes, Luke Wood and Mark Wood.