ISLAMABAD: He served England in 156 matches England’s opener Alex Hales announced on Friday that he is retiring from international cricket with immediate effect. Hales, 34, retired as a T20 World Cup winner, having played his last match against Pakistan in the final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in November. In his retirement post, he also confirmed that he will continue playing franchise cricket. "Throughout my time in an England shirt I've experienced some of the highest highs as well as some of the lowest lows,” Hales said in an Instagram post. "It's been an incredible journey and I feel very content that my last game for England was winning a World Cup final.

"Throughout the ups and down I've always felt a huge amount of support from my friends, family and undoubtedly the best fans in world cricket. "I look forward to continuing to play for Notts and exploring more franchise cricket around the world." Even though he represented England in all three formats, he mainly played in the T20Is and ODIs. He batted in 75 T20Is and scored a total of 2074 runs at a strike rate of 138.35. In ODIs, he accumulated 2419 runs in 67 innings including six tons. Hales also played 11 Tests between 2015 and 2016 where he made five half-centuries and averaged 27.28.

He made his T20I debut against India in Manchester in 2011 while his ODI debut was against the same opponent as well but that was in Cardiff, in August 2014. Hales played his last ODI against West Indies in 2019 and has not been a part of the ODI team since then.