Nick Compton slams England for giving Ben Stokes 'a second chance' while ignoring Hales

Nick Compton has questioned England’s treatment of opener Alex Hales after he was snubbed from the 55-man training squad that is set to resume practice. The squad announcement was made on Friday. Alex was expected to make a comeback to the English side. At the same time, Compton also reminded  English cricket of giving star all-rounder a second chance after his alleged involvement in a night club brawl.

Hales was handed over a 21-day ban for the use of recreational drugs in May last year due to which he ended up missing the World Cup that was held on English soil for the first time in 20 years. It was indeed an opportunity missed for the opening batsman as England went on to lift the coveted trophy for the very first time. 

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'Ridiculous': Nick Compton

Taking to the micro-blogging site, the former Test batsman wrote that the way Hales is being treated is ridiculous and that he had spent a month with the opening batsman in the Caribbean during the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) where he was keen to put his mistakes to bed. Expressing his disappointment, Compton went on to mention that leadership have got a bit ahead of themselves and giving an example of Ben Stokes, he added that the southpaw had made a  bad error some time ago and were the rules different then?

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The Bristol Nightclub incident

After the 3rd ODI against West Indies at Bristol in 2017, Ben Stokes was arrested after becoming involved in a street brawl near a nightclub with two men. Due to this incident, he missed out on the 2017/18 Ashes series against Australia Down Under and the second Test match against India later in the year. Apart from that, the all-rounder lost out on a huge sponsorship deal, fined £30,000  by the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and was handed an eight-match ban.

Nonetheless, he made the most of his opportunity when he was named in England's 2019 World Cup squad as Stokes took an absolute blinder to dismiss Andile Pheklukowayo during the tournament opener against South Africa. Stokes also made his bat do the talking throughout the event where he scored an important half-century during England's must-win league game against India. He saved his best for the last as he scored an unbeaten 84 in the final against New Zealand when the hosts looked down and out at 86/4 in their run chase of 241 at Lords'.

The southpaw added 110 runs for the fifth wicket stand with Jos Buttler as the match ended in a tie as the contest headed into the super over in order to determine the winner. Even the super over was tied and England were crowned world champions due to the boundary count rule. 

(Image Courtesy: AP)