With Alex Hales' brilliance in the One-Day Internationals against South Africa, the England selectors will have to decide whether he's the man to open alongside Alastair Cook in the Test side going forward. 

After scoring a meagre 136 runs in eight knocks in the Tests, obvious questions were raised about Hales' technique against the moving ball and his lack of footwork. One fifty in eight Test innings isn't ideal, but the Three Lions have struggled to find an opening partner for Cook since Andrew Strauss' retirement in 2012. 

But he may have kept his chances alive by returning to form with a bang to become only the third batsman to score 50-plus scores in all five games of an ODI series, alongside New Zealand's Kane Williamson and Pakistan's Yasir Hameed

In the second game, which England won by five wickets in Port Elizabeth, Hales became the first man to be dismissed for 99 in both ODIs and T20Is. 

The aggressive opener finished the series with a personal best 383 runs at a swashbuckling average of 76.60. 

England's opener plight 

The England and Wales Cricket Board have tried no less than eight alternatives since the former captain retired after the South Africa series in England - which will always be remembered for the Kevin Pietersen textgate scandal. 

And it's strange that England, a nation of opening batsman, have struggled to fill the void left by the ex-Middlesex man. 

Nine of the 25 most prolific openers in Test cricket history are English, more than any other nation have produced in the list. 

Players are bought up on pitches that move around with the wet and rainy conditions in April and May some of the hardest a batsman could ever face, other than coming up against the ferocious West Indians in the 80s. 

Hales' white-ball tag

The 27-year-old has been known as a white-ball biffer in the past, and rose to international stardom in the T20 side. 

Despite a two-ball duck on debut, Hales reached the heights of being the ICC ranked top T20I batsman in the world. 

He currently averages a shade under 35 in the shortest format, with one hundred and seven fifties - including a 99 against the West Indies - in 37 games. 

Hales scores a masterful 99 against the West Indies (photo: getty)
Hales scores a masterful 99 against the West Indies (photo: getty)

Last season 

Hales was picked for the tour against Pakistan in the UAE after Adam Lyth fell out of favour following a lean summer against New Zealand and Australia. 

The Yorkshireman could only muster 265 runs at an average of 20.38 and wasn't even selected for the tour. 

Hales had by far his best season, scoring a remarkable 892 runs in just 11 games - with a highest score of 236 against champions Yorkshire, the best attack in the County Championship. 

Pakistan snub 

Despite being the only recognised opener to bat alongside Cook, with England knowing a tough task against the number one ranked side in the world around the corner, the selectors decided to go for Moeen Ali as Cook's seventh opening partner since Strauss. 

The experiment failed as Moeen scored a paltry 84 runs in six goes at the top, whilst Hales was left carrying the drinks and hitting balls in the nets - not the best preparation for Dale Steyn and co. 

Moeen Ali kept Hales out against Pakistan (photo: Reuters)
Moeen Ali kept Hales out against Pakistan (photo: Reuters)

Chance to move things around 

After the 2-1 Test series win, coach Trevor Bayliss said there's a chance to shift the batting order around, with Hales moving to first drop where he enjoyed most of his success for Notts. 

"Swapping Compton and Hales is one of those possibilities. Compton has done the job before and I think Hales has batted at No.3 before. That is certainly an option and has been spoken about in the past," the England coach told ESPN Cricinfo. 

Hales definitely deserves at least the two-Test series against Sri Lanka before England go back to the drawing board and look for Cook's ninth partner since Strauss' retirement. 

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