Alex Hales

A top-order batsman who uses his 6’ 5” frame to good effect, Hales found early fame when, aged 16, he hit 52 runs off an over playing at London County Cricket Club’s Founders Day on the Nursery Ground at Lord’s in 2005.

He helped his team score 77 off the final two overs - the last of which was bowled by former England spinner Min Patel - to win, and finished unbeaten on 114.

Hales spent two years with MCC Young Cricketers before signing for Nottinghamshire in 2008 on the back of a successful trial.

Despite scoring heavily in the second XI, he played just one first-team game that summer - his debut against Leicestershire in the Friends Provident Trophy - but did win England Under-19 honours.

The following summer proved more productive as Hales forced his way into the Notts side, although his appearances were limited largely to one-day cricket.

Alex Hales fell agonisingly short of being England's first Twenty20 international centurion, making 99 versus West Indies in June 2012

He scored a splendid unbeaten 150 in a losing cause against Worcestershire in the NatWest Pro40 late in the season, and continued in equally impressive fashion in 2010, recording his maiden first-class century in the LV= County Championship clash with Hampshire at Trent Bridge.

He served a further reminder of his talents with 69 off just 25 balls - including a 16-ball fifty, the second fastest in domestic Twenty20 cricket - in the Friends Provident t20 victory over Derbyshire at Trent Bridge.

Hales' impressive form at the top of the Nottinghamshire order in 2011 was recognised by his inclusion in England Lions' squad for their four-day and limited-overs games against Sri Lanka A.

He went one better by making his senior England debut, in the NatWest International T20 against India, during a summer when he hit 544 runs at a strike-rate of 147 in the Friends Life t20.

Having scored 1,000 runs in the championship for the first time and been awarded his county cap, he was named PCA young player of the year at the end of the campaign.

Further international appearances followed in the shortest form of the game and, in June 2012, he came within an ace of becoming the first England player to record a T20 hundred when compiling a match-winning 99 against West Indies on his home ground.

Hales went on to participate in every game of England’s World Twenty20 campaign, scoring 68 in a losing cause during another meeting with the Windies.

His prowess in T20 cricket was further illustrated in January 2013, when he bashed 89 from 52 balls against Sydney Sixers on his Big Bash debut for Melbourne Renegades, having flown in from England immediately prior to the game.