Lees embraces 'Bazball' with 94-ball hundred after "disappointing" England axe

26 January 2023 , 12:04

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Alex Lees crashed a hundred off just 94 balls for the England Lions (Image: Visionhaus/Getty Images)

Alex Lees has bounced back from becoming the first player in England's 'Bazball' era to be dropped by fully embracing the approach to smash a 94-ball hundred in his first innings since being axed.

Lees featured in the first seven Tests under Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum and scored 327 runs at an average of 25.15, before missing out on a central contract and then getting dropped for the tour of Pakistan in December.

The decision was perhaps a touch harsh, particularly given England stuck with his opening partner Zak Crawley who scored 276 runs at 23.00 across those same seven Tests and then cashed in with a century on a flat Rawalpindi pitch against Pakistan.

Lees was naturally disappointed when he was axed, but remains on England's radar having been picked in the Lions squad for their tour of Sri Lanka which began this month. Speaking before the trip, Lees was hopeful of earning a recall and vowed to continue playing the 'Bazball' way.

And the opener has immediately delivered on his promise, crashing a 94-ball hundred that contained 14 boundaries against a Sri Lanka President's XI in Colombo. It is the second-fastest hundred in Lions history, behind England's new national selector Luke Wright who blasted one off 91 balls against New Zealand in 2009.

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"The messaging has just been about keep trying to go away, keep developing my game and keep trying to play in the manner the Test team is now playing," Lees said last week. "The days of scoring 100 at a 40 strike rate are gone, particularly under this regime, so you've got to buy into that.

Lees' hundred is the second-fastest in England Lions history (Gareth Copley/Getty Images)

"Through county cricket I think there'll be a clear ripple effect from the Test team downwards: if you have any ambition to play for England, as they've shown, they won’t be selecting people if you don't play in that manner.

"It is still my ambition to play Test cricket – once you experience something and you like doing it, you want to do more of it. I’d love to experience that environment again and I think if I do, my biggest learning from this summer is that I need to make big hundreds.

"I've just got to keep staying in my lane and keep trying to develop as a player. It might not necessarily be this year but over the next couple of years, while I'm still young enough, hopefully I can be afforded another opportunity at some point."

Matthew Cooper