Doesn’t matter if Stokes and Hales might not be the best mates; common goal is to win the World Cup: Mott

Lahore, Sep 18 : England white-ball coach Matthew Mott has said winning the ICC T20 World Cup in Australia later this year was the teams goal, and that all-rounder Ben Stokes and the returning Alex Hales do not need to be best mates as Jos Buttlers side bids to add the 20-over trophy to the ODI World Cup they won in 2019.

The 33-year-old Hales was recently included in the England T20 squad for the seven-match series against Pakistan followed by the T20 World Cup in Australia after the opening batter returned to the side following three years in cricketing wilderness due to a recreational drug misdemeanour just before the 2019 50-over World Cup.

He was subsequently dropped from the squad as then limited-overs skipper Eoin Morgan felt Hales had "shown a complete disregard" for team values.But following Morgans retirement and Jonny Bairstows freak injury, Hales approached the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and got a positive feedback, facilitating his return under a new leadership group of Buttler and Mott.

Incidentally, Hales was with Stokes during a late-night street brawl in September, 2017, which reportedly left two people injured.Stokes lost his England vice-captaincy and a place on the Ashes tour.

Later, the all-rounder was acquitted after the jury accepted he had acted in self-defence.Stokes also played a key role in England defeating New Zealand in the 2019 World Cup final; the same event where Hales was ejected from the squad for his recreational drugs misdemeanour and for not apologising to his team-mates.

However, Mott believes the incidents of the past will not have a bearing on the teams campaign in the T20 World Cup."Probably the key phone call for me was when I rang Trevor Bayliss and asked if he had any views (on Hales) since obviously he was (England) coach at the time and has worked with him (Hales) at Sydney Thunder (BBL)," Mott was quoted as saying by Daily Mail."He said hes had absolutely no problem with him (Hales) at all, hes (Hales) made mistakes but hes trying to get better and for me thats it.Nobodys perfect, Im certainly not, but if hes trying to get better and hes the best player then we can work around it," added Mott.Stokes had reportedly refused to elaborate on his relationship with Hales recently and Mott said "common goal" outweighs everything.

"And as far as that (Stokes) relationship goes, they might not be best mates and thats OK, you work with colleagues all the time who arent your best mate but you can work with them if youve got a common goal," said Mott."Bens said it, he wants to win World Cups, Alex does as well, we all do, so try and pick the best players and if they end up becoming good mates again thats great, if not, as long as theyre going towards that goal of winning together then thats how teams function.

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