England · Opening Batter

Alex Hales: Age, Career Stats, 116*, 171 and Current Teams

Alex Hales is an English opening batter and 2022 T20 World Cup winner. Born on 3 January 1989, he was 37 on 20 August 2026. His international record ended with 5,066 runs in 156 matches, including England's first men's T20I century and a then-national ODI record of 171. Hales retired from international cricket in 2023 but continued in franchise leagues, passing 14,000 career T20 runs in 2025.

By StumpScope Cricket Desk · Edited by StumpScope Editorial Team

Right-handedRight-arm medium bowlerBorn 3 January 1989

Current squadLos Angeles Knight RidersMajor League Cricket · 2026 squad member; no appearance recorded

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Full nameAlexander Daniel Hales

Age37As of 20 August 2026

Date of birth3 January 1989Hillingdon, London, England

Batting styleRight-handed

Bowling styleRight-arm medium

Career overview

Alex Hales cricket career

Alex Hales built his reputation as a tall, powerful opener who could attack the new ball without waiting for the middle overs. His England career covered 11 Tests, 70 ODIs and 75 T20Is between 2011 and 2022. The numbers tell only part of the story: his 116 not out in 2014 broke a national barrier, his 171 in 2016 helped England reach a world-record 444 for three, and his 2022 comeback ended with a world title.

The domestic record is just as substantial. Hales spent 18 consecutive summers with Nottinghamshire, finished as the Outlaws' leading men's T20 run-scorer with 4,825 runs, and produced an unbeaten 187 in the 2017 One-Day Cup final. His later career has centred on short-format teams across Australia, Pakistan, the Caribbean, the United States, the UAE and Europe.

Hales was listed in Los Angeles Knight Riders' 2026 MLC squad, although the season scorecards did not record an appearance. Cricket West Indies' player directory also lists Akcel United Brussels, Toronto Sixers, Trinbago Knight Riders and Abu Dhabi Knight Riders among his recent teams. Those memberships describe separate competitions and should not be combined into one season total.

Career story

Alex Hales career and playing journey

Who is Alex Hales?

Alexander Daniel Hales is a former England international and a right-handed opening batter. He represented England in all three international formats, then focused on domestic and franchise cricket after announcing his international retirement in August 2023. The ECB lists his role as batter and his bowling style as right-arm medium, although bowling has never been a regular part of his senior role.

Hales is best known for high-impact limited-overs batting. He became the first England men's player to score a T20I century, set a then-England ODI record with 171, and returned from more than three years outside the national side to help England win the 2022 T20 World Cup. His career also includes major domestic titles with Nottinghamshire and franchise success in the Caribbean.

Alex Hales age, birthplace and playing style

Hales was born on 3 January 1989 in Hillingdon, London. He was 37 on 20 August 2026. He is a right-handed opener whose height and reach allow him to drive through the off side, pull short bowling and hit straight without needing a long swing. The ECB and Cricket West Indies both classify him as a specialist batter rather than an all-rounder.

His right-arm medium bowling appears in biographical records, but the international statistics show only 18 balls in Tests and no wicket. That distinction matters because a published bowling style is not proof of a meaningful bowling role. His value has come from opening the innings, setting an early scoring rate and converting starts into large white-ball scores.

How did Alex Hales reach professional cricket?

Hales came through Buckinghamshire and MCC Young Cricketers before joining Nottinghamshire. He made his List A debut in May 2008 and received a first-class debut later that year. Trent Bridge's club history records that his first first-class appearance was unusual: rain reduced the match, and Hales was substituted before he appeared on the scorecard when Graeme Swann returned from England duty.

The following seasons gave him a clearer route. He scored almost 500 Championship runs from seven starts in 2009, made his first first-class hundred in 2010 and reached 1,000 runs in a season for the first time in 2011. England Lions selection followed, then a senior T20I debut against India at Old Trafford on 31 August 2011. His early progress was built on county runs rather than a single age-group tournament.

Why was 99 against West Indies an important innings?

Hales made 99 from 68 balls against West Indies at Trent Bridge on 24 June 2012. England were chasing 173 and won by seven wickets with two balls remaining. Hales struck four sixes and six fours before Ravi Rampaul bowled him with the target almost complete. The innings was then England's highest individual T20I score.

Falling one run short did not reduce its wider importance. Hales showed that England could build a successful T20I chase around an attacking opener, and he moved close to becoming the country's first centurion in the format. He had also made 94 earlier in his T20I career, so the 99 strengthened a pattern rather than appearing from nowhere. The century finally arrived two years later on a bigger tournament stage.

Alex Hales 116 not out: England's first men's T20I century

Hales scored 116 not out from 64 balls against Sri Lanka at the 2014 T20 World Cup in Chattogram. England had lost two wickets without a run while chasing 190, but Hales and Eoin Morgan added 152 for the third wicket. England reached the target with four balls left, and Hales finished the match with his sixth six.

The innings made Hales the first England men's batter to score a T20I hundred. It also remained his international high score in the format when he retired: 116 not out from a 75-match T20I career. The score should not be added separately to his 2,074 T20I runs, because it is already included in that aggregate, his high-score field and his one international T20 hundred.

What happened in Alex Hales's Test career?

Hales played 11 Tests between December 2015 and August 2016. He debuted against South Africa at Durban and finished with 573 runs at an average of 27.28, five fifties and a high score of 94. His best series came at home against Sri Lanka in 2016, where he made 86, 83 and 94 across the three Tests without reaching a century.

The record shows both potential and a format that never fully settled. Hales could survive and score against the new ball, but his attacking instincts did not translate as consistently to long innings against sustained Test pressure. England moved to other opening options after the Pakistan series in 2016. His later decision to take a limited-overs Nottinghamshire contract in 2018 confirmed the direction of the rest of his career.

Alex Hales 171 against Pakistan and England's 444 for three

Hales made 171 from 122 balls against Pakistan at Trent Bridge on 30 August 2016. He hit 22 fours and four sixes, shared a 248-run second-wicket partnership with Joe Root and became England's highest individual ODI scorer at the time. England finished on 444 for three, then the highest team total in men's ODI cricket, and won by 169 runs.

The wording needs a time boundary because both records later changed. Jason Roy passed Hales's England individual mark with 180 in 2018, and England later raised the team record. Hales's 171 remains his ODI high score and a central innings in England's shift toward aggressive 50-over batting. His completed ODI record is 2,419 runs, six hundreds and 14 fifties from 70 matches.

The 187 not out that won Nottinghamshire the 2017 One-Day Cup

Hales made an unbeaten 187 from 167 balls against Surrey in the 2017 One-Day Cup final at Lord's. Nottinghamshire were chasing 298 and lost regular wickets around him, but Hales stayed through the innings and shared a decisive stand with captain Chris Read. The Outlaws reached the target with 13 balls remaining and won by four wickets.

The ECB recorded 187 not out as the highest individual one-day score at Lord's and Hales's List A best. His innings contained 20 fours and four sixes and earned the player-of-the-match award. It also anchored Nottinghamshire's white-ball double: the club later won the T20 Blast in the same season. This was not a routine group-stage hundred; it directly decided a domestic final.

Why did Alex Hales leave the England set-up in 2019?

The ECB withdrew Hales from England's 2019 international squads before the home World Cup. Nottinghamshire's public statement said his off-field actions had fallen below the behaviour expected by the club, that he accepted responsibility and that the club would work with him, the Professional Cricketers' Association and the ECB. England then selected its World Cup squad without him.

The episode created a break of more than three years in his international career. It should neither be erased nor inflated with unsupported detail. The documented outcome is clear: Hales remained active in domestic and franchise cricket, but England did not recall him until September 2022. That return came after a change of captain and an injury to Jonny Bairstow opened a place in the T20 World Cup squad.

How Alex Hales completed his 2022 England comeback

Hales returned to England's T20I side in September 2022 and travelled to Australia for the T20 World Cup. He scored 212 tournament runs, second only to Jos Buttler for England. The sequence included 52 against New Zealand, 47 against Sri Lanka and a match-winning unbeaten 86 in the semi-final against India.

In Adelaide, Hales struck 86 from 47 balls with seven sixes. He and Buttler chased 169 without losing a wicket, finishing with 24 balls remaining. Hales received the player-of-the-match award, while the partnership sent England into the final. England beat Pakistan at the MCG three days later; Hales scored one, so his greatest contribution to the title came in the semi-final rather than the final itself.

Alex Hales international retirement and final England record

Hales announced his international retirement on 4 August 2023. His final England appearance was the 2022 T20 World Cup final, allowing him to leave as a world champion. Across 156 matches he scored 5,066 runs: 573 in Tests, 2,419 in ODIs and 2,074 in T20Is.

The format split explains why a single career average would be misleading. His Test average was 27.28, his ODI average 37.79 and his T20I average 30.95. His six ODI hundreds, one T20I hundred and five Test fifties belong to different rules and match lengths. Retirement fixed those international totals, even while his domestic T20 record continued to grow.

Alex Hales Nottinghamshire record and county legacy

Hales spent 18 consecutive summers with Nottinghamshire and scored more than 10,000 runs for the club across formats. The club's October 2025 history lists 4,825 T20 runs, the most by any man for the Outlaws. His honours include the 2010 County Championship, the 2013 one-day title, the 2017 One-Day Cup and T20 Blast double, and the 2020 Blast.

Nottinghamshire announced in February 2025 that Hales would miss that year's Blast after 17 consecutive seasons in the competition. He had moved abroad and was balancing a global franchise schedule. The club left open the possibility of a return, but its later tribute framed his 18-summer run as a completed body of work. The county record matters because it supplied the platform for every stage of his England career.

How strong is Alex Hales's Big Bash record?

Sydney Thunder's official player record lists 78 Big Bash matches, 2,360 runs at an average of 32.33 and a strike rate of 149.08. Hales has one BBL hundred, 16 fifties, a high score of 110 and 107 sixes. Those numbers place the Australian competition among the most productive parts of his franchise career.

His best BBL season came in 2020-21, when he finished as the competition's leading run-scorer. The 2022 World Cup recall was partly built on that body of work in Australian conditions: the ICC noted 1,857 BBL runs from 60 matches before the semi-final against India. The later Sydney Thunder total is larger because it includes subsequent seasons, so the two figures use different cutoffs.

Passing 14,000 T20 runs and winning the 2025 CPL

Hales became the first English batter to pass 14,000 career T20 runs during Trinbago Knight Riders' 2025 Caribbean Premier League title campaign. Nottinghamshire recorded the milestone in its October 2025 career review. It placed him among a small group of batters whose careers have stretched across more than 500 T20 matches.

A current exact aggregate needs care because live databases can refresh at different times. Cricket West Indies' player page retrieved on 20 August 2026 listed 530 T20 matches and more than 14,000 runs, while different summary modules on the same page were not fully synchronized. The stable conclusion is that Hales has passed 14,000; a match-by-match number should use one named cutoff rather than mix two live modules.

Alex Hales recent teams and 2026 squad status

Los Angeles Knight Riders included Hales in their MLC squad after first signing him for the 2025 season. The 2026 squad directory continued to list him, but the completed scorecards did not record an appearance. LAKR won the 2026 title, so Hales was part of the registered squad without being part of the playing XI in the final. Squad membership and match participation are not the same claim.

Cricket West Indies' player directory lists Akcel United Brussels, Toronto Sixers, Trinbago Knight Riders and Abu Dhabi Knight Riders among Hales's recent teams. EUT20 Belgium's official site also placed him with Akcel United Brussels for its June 2026 event. Each league keeps its own fixtures and statistics. A run for Akcel cannot be added to an MLC or CPL season total simply because the matches occurred in the same year.

Alex Hales career statistics by format

Hales's international record is complete because he retired in 2023. He played 11 Tests for 573 runs, 70 ODIs for 2,419 runs and 75 T20Is for 2,074 runs. He made six ODI hundreds and one T20I hundred, while 94 remained his Test high score. His fielding record includes eight Test catches, 27 ODI catches and 39 T20I catches.

The broader domestic rows overlap with those international formats. His 107 first-class matches include all 11 Tests, and his 175 List A matches include all 70 ODIs. Adding them would count the international appearances and runs twice. Overall T20 figures include T20Is, Big Bash, Blast and franchise leagues, so they should be read as one umbrella total rather than added to every league line.

Alex Hales salary, contracts and net worth

Hales has held contracts in several franchise competitions, but the current value and payment terms are not published in one audited record. A league draft price or registration category would cover one season and one currency; it would not reveal tax, bonuses, endorsements, agent fees or what a player ultimately received.

No audited public document establishes Hales's current net worth. Online estimates that do not disclose accounts or a dependable calculation should not be treated as fact. The defensible financial picture is narrower: he has earned a long professional career through England, Nottinghamshire and numerous T20 teams, while his present salary and personal wealth remain private.

Alex Hales wife and personal life

Hales has kept most of his family life outside public cricket coverage. Nottinghamshire's February 2025 announcement said that he had recently married his South African fiancée and moved abroad. The club did not publish her name in that statement, and there is no need to replace that limited confirmed detail with social-media speculation.

Public cricket sources do not establish a complete record of children, household finances or a current private address. Those details are not required to understand his career. The relevant connection is that Nottinghamshire cited changes in his life and the global cricket calendar when explaining why he would miss the 2025 Blast.

What makes Alex Hales's career distinctive?

Hales combined several careers inside one record. He was a county opener capable of a first-class 236, an ODI batter who made six hundreds, England's first T20I centurion and a franchise specialist who crossed 14,000 T20 runs. Few players have produced a 171 for their country, a 187 not out in a domestic final and an unbeaten World Cup semi-final innings.

The route was not smooth. His Test career ended without a hundred, the 2019 disciplinary episode cost him a home World Cup place, and his international return lasted only one tournament cycle. Yet the comeback ended with a global title, and his Nottinghamshire and franchise totals continued after retirement. The mix of record scores, disruption and late redemption is the clearest way to understand his career.

Alex Hales records

Alex Hales career statistics and records

Batting, bowling and fielding figures are kept separate by competition and format.

Test (career complete)11matches

Batting

Innings: 21
Runs: 573
High score: 94
Average: 27.28
Strike rate: 43.87
Not outs: 0
100s / 50s: 0/5

Bowling & fielding

Innings: 1
Wickets: 0
Economy: 0.66
Balls: 18
Catches / stumpings: 8/0
5w / 10w: 0/0

Only fields published by the named source are shown; unavailable values are not guessed.

ODI (career complete)70matches

Batting

Innings: 67
Runs: 2,419
High score: 171
Average: 37.79
Strike rate: 95.72
Not outs: 3
100s / 50s: 6/14

Bowling & fielding

Catches / stumpings: 27/0

Only fields published by the named source are shown; unavailable values are not guessed.

T20I (career complete)75matches

Batting

Innings: 75
Runs: 2,074
High score: 116*
Average: 30.95
Strike rate: 138.35
Not outs: 8
100s / 50s: 1/12

Bowling & fielding

Catches / stumpings: 39/0

Only fields published by the named source are shown; unavailable values are not guessed.

First-class (through 2017)107matches

Batting

Innings: 182
Runs: 6,655
High score: 236
Average: 37.81
Strike rate: 59.08
Not outs: 6
100s / 50s: 13/38

Bowling & fielding

Innings: 8
Wickets: 3
Best bowling: 2/63
Average: 57.66
Economy: 3.33
Strike rate: 103.6
Balls: 311
Catches / stumpings: 84/0
5w / 10w: 0/0

List A (through 2019)175matches

Batting

Innings: 169
Runs: 6,260
High score: 187*
Average: 38.40
Strike rate: 99.09
Not outs: 6
100s / 50s: 17/32

Bowling & fielding

Catches / stumpings: 77/0

Only fields published by the named source are shown; unavailable values are not guessed.

Big Bash (Sydney Thunder official career table)78matches

Batting

Innings: 78
Runs: 2,360
High score: 110
Average: 32.33
Strike rate: 149.08
Not outs: 5
100s / 50s: 1/16

Bowling & fielding

Catches / stumpings: 31/0

Only fields published by the named source are shown; unavailable values are not guessed.

International career

Debut and last listed match

T20I

Debut

England v India, Manchester, 31 August 2011

Last listed match

England v Pakistan, Melbourne, 13 November 2022

ODI

Debut

England v India, Cardiff, 27 August 2014

Last listed match

West Indies v England, Saint Lucia, 2 March 2019

Test

Debut

South Africa v England, Durban, 26 December 2015

Last listed match

England v Pakistan, The Oval, 11 August 2016

Career achievements

Career achievements and milestones

Scored 99 in England's successful T20I chase against West Indies in 2012.
Became the first England men's T20I centurion with 116 not out against Sri Lanka in 2014.
Made a then-England ODI record 171 as the team reached 444 for three against Pakistan in 2016.
Hit 187 not out to win Nottinghamshire the 2017 One-Day Cup final at Lord's.
Scored 86 not out and won player of the match in the 2022 T20 World Cup semi-final.
Finished his England career with 5,066 runs from 156 international matches.
Ended 18 summers at Nottinghamshire as the Outlaws' leading men's T20 run-scorer with 4,825.
Became the first English batter to pass 14,000 career T20 runs during the 2025 CPL.
Won the 2022 T20 World Cup with England and the 2025 CPL with Trinbago Knight Riders.

Reader questions

Alex Hales FAQ

How old is Alex Hales?

Alex Hales was born on 3 January 1989 and was 37 years old on 20 August 2026.

What is Alex Hales's highest international score?

His highest international score is 171 against Pakistan in an ODI at Trent Bridge in August 2016.

How many international runs did Alex Hales score?

Hales scored 5,066 runs in 156 England matches: 573 in Tests, 2,419 in ODIs and 2,074 in T20Is.

Was Alex Hales England's first T20I centurion?

Yes. His unbeaten 116 against Sri Lanka at the 2014 T20 World Cup was the first men's T20I century for England.

Did Alex Hales win the T20 World Cup?

Yes. He was part of England's 2022 title-winning team and made 86 not out in the semi-final victory over India.

When did Alex Hales retire from international cricket?

Hales announced his international retirement on 4 August 2023. His final England match was the 2022 T20 World Cup final.

How many T20 runs has Alex Hales scored?

Hales passed 14,000 career T20 runs in 2025. Live provider modules retrieved in August 2026 were not fully synchronized, so this profile does not present a mixed-cutoff exact total.

Which team did Alex Hales represent in MLC 2026?

Los Angeles Knight Riders listed Hales in their 2026 squad, but the completed season scorecards did not record an appearance.

Who is Alex Hales's wife?

Nottinghamshire said in February 2025 that Hales had recently married his South African fiancée, but the club statement did not name her.

What is Alex Hales's net worth?

No audited public record establishes a reliable current net-worth figure for Alex Hales.

Conclusion

Alex Hales's career is defined by landmark white-ball innings. The 116 not out that broke England's T20I century barrier, the 171 that drove a world-record ODI total, the 187 not out in a Lord's final and the unbeaten 86 in a World Cup semi-final each changed the match around him.

He retired from international cricket with 5,066 runs and a T20 World Cup medal, then became the first English batter past 14,000 T20 runs. His 2026 MLC listing did not produce an appearance, but his wider franchise record and 4,825 T20 runs for Nottinghamshire leave a substantial short-format legacy.