Opening batter Nangarhar Cosmic
Alex Hales is Nangarhar Cosmic's Platinum pick for APL 2026 — the first Englishman to score a T20I century, a 2022 T20 World Cup winner, and one of the most prolific T20 batters ever.
14,581
T20 runs by 1 October 2026
543
Runs in BBL|10, the tournament's top scorer
171
Highest ODI score, Trent Bridge
Last updated 5 November 2026, 18:00 GST
Alex Hales is Nangarhar Cosmic's Platinum pick for APL 2026, taken third among the five Platinum players at the draft in Dubai on 3 November 2026, after Muhammad Amir (Kandahar Warriors) and Moeen Ali (Balkh Zwanan). He is the second pick on Nangarhar's list, behind Afghan Icon and captain Rahmat Shah, and his salary is $100,000, the Platinum bracket.
He did not play the first APL season in 2018. He was not in any of the five squads that year, so 2026 is his first APL season. Around him, Nangarhar's squad includes Shakib Al Hasan, Kamindu Mendis, Darwish Rasooli and Junaid Siddique, with Toby Radford as coach and Mark Boucher as mentor. The season starts on 27 December 2026 in the UAE, and his figures will be added here once the matches are played.
What he brings is proven T20 volume and big-match returns. By 1 October 2026 he had 14,581 T20 runs with seven centuries, and his record in finals and semi-finals includes the 86 not out that carried England past India in the 2022 T20 World Cup semi-final and the BBL|10 Golden Bat for 543 runs.
Figures marked To be confirmed are not in the verified source set for this player. They will be added when the APL publishes complete figures.
| Season | Matches | Runs | Average | Strike rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | To be confirmed | To be confirmed | To be confirmed | To be confirmed |
| Season | Matches | Wickets | Average | Best |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | To be confirmed | To be confirmed | To be confirmed | To be confirmed |
| Year | Team | Matches | Runs | Wickets | Finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Nangarhar Cosmic | To be confirmed | To be confirmed | To be confirmed | To be confirmed |
86 not out off 47 balls in the T20 World Cup semi-final.
Why it mattered: an unbroken 170-run opening stand with Jos Buttler, the highest opening stand in T20 World Cup history; England won by 10 wickets and Hales was man of the match.
116 not out in the T20 World Cup.
Why it mattered: the first T20I century by an Englishman, in a 152-run stand with Eoin Morgan, a record for the third wicket in T20 World Cup history.
171, his highest ODI score.
Why it mattered: the highest individual ODI score by an Englishman at the time, breaking Robin Smith's record held for 23 years; England posted 444 for 3 and won by 169 runs.
543 runs in 15 matches.
Why it mattered: top scorer of the tournament (Golden Bat), with 30 sixes, the most in a BBL season, and the Mike Hussey Medal as Thunder's player of the tournament.
99, man of the match.
Why it mattered: England's highest successful T20I chase, and he remains the only batter ever dismissed for 99 in a T20I.
Hales is a right-handed opening batter who attacks from the first ball. His game is built on power through the off side and a strong pull, and he is at his most dangerous in the powerplay, where his T20 strike rate has stayed above 140 across his career.
His other strength is the big occasion. The 86 not out in the 2022 semi-final, the 116 not out in 2014 and the 171 at Trent Bridge all came when the match mattered most. He rarely bowls his right-arm medium, and his fielding is solid without being a calling card.
His weakness, exposed in Test cricket in 2015 and 2016, was his technique outside off stump against the moving ball. It is the reason his Test career stopped at 11 matches, and it is why his game has always fitted white-ball cricket better.
In the APL, his job is simple: give Nangarhar fast starts and let the middle order, led by Shakib Al Hasan and Kamindu Mendis, build on them.
Hales was born in Hillingdon, London. He came to national attention at 16, when he hit 55 off a single over at Lord's in a Cricket Idol T20 tournament. He joined Nottinghamshire in 2007 after scoring 218 in only his second trial appearance, made his List A debut in May 2008 and his first-class debut that September, and stayed with the county until 2024. His 150 off 102 balls against Worcestershire in August 2009 was the top score of that season's Pro40, and in May 2015 he hit six consecutive sixes across two overs in an unbeaten 86 against Birmingham.
He played 156 matches for England (11 Tests, 70 ODIs and 75 T20Is), scoring 5,066 runs. His Test career lasted only 11 matches: his technique outside off stump was exposed in South Africa in early 2016, and he never played Test cricket again after August 2016. In white-ball cricket he was a fixture at the top of the order, with six ODI centuries and the first T20I century by an Englishman.
In April 2019 he was named in England's preliminary World Cup squad, then failed a drugs test for a recreational drug, was banned for 21 days, and was dropped from every England squad. He was not recalled for the rest of Eoin Morgan's captaincy. Three years later, in September 2022, he was called back for the T20 World Cup as a late replacement for the injured Jonny Bairstow, and his 86 not out in the semi-final against India carried England into the final, which they won. He announced his international retirement in August 2023.
Since then he has been a full-time franchise batter: Sydney Thunder in the BBL, Islamabad United in the PSL, Rangpur Riders in the BPL, Trent Rockets in The Hundred, Desert Vipers in the ILT20, and Trinbago Knight Riders in the CPL, with whom he won the 2025 title. He was part of the Islamabad United squad that won PSL 2024, and his 543 runs for Sydney Thunder in BBL|10 remain one of the great single-season returns in the league.
| Format | Matches | Runs | Average | 100s/50s | Highest |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Test | 11 | 573 | 27.28 | 0/5 | 94 |
| ODI | 70 | 2,419 | 37.79 | 6/14 | 171 |
| T20I | 75 | 2,074 | 30.95 | 1/12 | 116* |
| First-class | 107 | 6,655 | 37.81 | 13/38 | 236 |
T20 (all men's T20 cricket, internationals and leagues together): 14,581 runs in 531 innings at 29.69, with 7 centuries and 93 fifties — snapshot current to 1 October 2026.
What could not be verified: his exact IPL bowling figures; his exact 2025 ILT20 figures for Desert Vipers, and whether he played in the ILT20 2025 final; a single authoritative T20 aggregate after 1 October 2026, because sources disagree on which matches count; and a Karachi Kings stint that some profile sites list but his Wikipedia domestic-team list does not.
Alex Hales is in the Nangarhar Cosmic squad for APL T20 2026. He was picked in the Platinum category at the player draft in Dubai on 3 November 2026, the third Platinum pick of the draft.
No. He was not in any of the five squads in the first APL season in 2018, so 2026 is his first APL season.
His 116 not out against Sri Lanka at the 2014 T20 World Cup, the first T20I century by an Englishman, and his 86 not out in the 2022 T20 World Cup semi-final against India, which carried England into the final. He also won the 2022 T20 World Cup with England.
By 1 October 2026 he had 14,581 runs in 531 innings across all men's T20 cricket, with 7 centuries and 93 fifties. He passed Chris Gayle's T20 total on 11 September 2026.
APL T20 2026 starts on 27 December 2026 in the UAE.
