LONDON, April 29: England batsman Alex Hales will not feature at the World Cup after being withdrawn from all international squads following an off-field incident not related to cricket, the England and Wales Cricket Board said on Monday.
Hales was included in the 15-man preliminary World Cup squad for the tournament in England and Wales but it emerged last week that he had been sanctioned under the ECB�s disciplinary policy for a second time.
A report in the Guardian newspaper said the hard-hitting batsman was serving a ban from cricket for recreational drug use.
A spokesman for Hales on Friday confirmed the Nottinghamshire batsman had been suspended �following an off-field incident last year�.
An ECB statement on Monday said: �Alex Hales has been withdrawn from all England squads ahead of the international season.�
Hales�s latest misdemeanour comes just a few months after he was suspended and fined by the ECB for his part in a street brawl in Bristol also involving Ben Stokes in September 2017.
The 30-year-old has been stood down from this Friday�s one-off One-day International against Ireland in Malahide, the upcoming limited-overs matches against Pakistan and the World Cup.
Ashley Giles, ECB managing director of England Men�s Cricket, said: �We have thought long and hard about this decision.� � AFP
