Video: Opener Alex Hales on the season ahead for him with Notts and England
Notts and England opening batsman Alex Hales is targeting national and international glory with the start of the season just around the corner.
In part three of four of our pre-season build up to the start of the cricket season, Nottinghamshire and England’s opening batsman Alex Hales speaks on returning from injury, a fresh start and being at the top in all competitions.
If you missed part 1 with retiring captain Chris Read or part 2 with new head coach Peter Moores, be sure to check them out.
The county cricket club start their competitive campaign on Friday (March 7) away at Grace Road against Leicestershire in the County Championship Division 2.
England international Alex Hales was pleased with his return from injury after a disrupted winter season and is focused on helping Notts regain Division 1 status.
Hales said: “I had the ideal return from injury with a century against the West Indies in Barbados in the final ODI and it was good to be a part of the preseason tour with Notts.
“I feel good, confident and so do all the guys here.
“It really feels like a fresh start – of course we were disappointed to get relegated last year but we’ve got a few new players in and changes in the backroom staff and we want to right the wrongs of last year and get back into Division 1.”
Hales is expecting Notts to bounce straight back and be competitive in all competitions.
He said: “It was a gutting feeling when we went down because we pride ourselves on our red ball cricket and hopefully it was just a blip.
“It has happened before in the past 10 years where we’ve gone down and then straight back up so hopefully we can do that again this year.
“We set ourselves the aim of being in all competitions in July but that’s something we want to achieve again.
“We were disappointed we lost the semi-final last year in the T20 Blast because with the team we had we should have probably gone all the way but that can happen in that format.”
Part 4 with Notts and England bowler Jake Ball comes out later today (Tuesday April 4). For our Sports Week cricket special, tune in to Notts TV at 7.30pm on Wednesday April 5 on Freeview 7, Virgin 159 or Sky 117.
