Hales follows Adil Rashid by quitting red-ball game
Tuesday 20 February 2018 14:29, UK
Alex Hales will play only white-ball cricket for Nottinghamshire for the next two seasons.
Hales has become the second England player in a week - after Yorkshire's Adil Rashid - to take a break from the red-ball game after signing an extended, limited-overs only deal at Trent Bridge until the end of 2019.
The 29-year-old played the last of his 11 Tests in August 2016 but is a key component of England's one-day international and Twenty20 sides.
Hales has scored five hundreds and 11 fifties in 58 ODIs, while he remains the only England batsman to score a century in Twenty20 internationals, doing so against Sri Lanka in 2014.
In a statement on his official Twitter account, Hales said: "For the next 18 months I'm excited to focus entirely on limited overs cricket and want to be part of a Notts team that retains the white ball double and a World Cup winning squad with England.
"The decision to focus on my white ball game wasn't taken lightly or on the spur of the moment, it's one I've thought long and hard about. It's also one I've discussed at length with the Notts management."
Hales amassed 434 runs in the 2017 One-Day Cup at an average of 72.33, including a Lord's one-day final best of 187 not out as Notts beat Surrey.
The right-hander also scored 507 runs in the Blast, a tally which featured a century against Yorkshire and a 30-ball 95 against Durham.
"We are looking forward to Alex being involved again with us for the next two years as he was integral to our success in 50 and 20-over cricket last summer," said Nottinghamshire Director of Cricket Mick Newell.
"Alex is entitled to make himself available for whatever format he wants to play, and we respect his decision.
"He's an outstanding white-ball player and we look forward to him helping us win more trophies in that format of the game."
Catch Hales in action live on Sky Sports Cricket during England's five-match ODI series against New Zealand, starting with the opener in Hamilton, live from 12.30am on Saturday night/Sunday morning.
