Mature Hales weathers the storm

Like a sprinter running a marathon or a sports car delivering bricks, Alex Hales took on an unfamiliar role for England on the first day of the Investec Test at Headingley.

Hales came into this side with a reputation as a dasher. He was, at least up to a point, meant to be England's answer to David Warner: an aggressive opening batsman who took the attack to the opposition and set the tone for the way in which "new England" see themselves as a team.

But here, as his colleagues perished to overly aggressive shots - pushing at balls a fraction too short or wide for the stroke on a typical May pitch that offered enough movement to keep the bowlers interested - Hales left with a discipline that will have surprised those who witnessed him batting in South Africa.

It was exactly what England required, too. While fashion dictates that modern cricket has to be played at full speed, fashion also gave us mullets and double corduroy. While Test cricket survives, there will be a place for the leave, the block and the patient accumulation of runs. And in conditions such as this, with the ball swinging and the pitch offering a little seam movement, trying to hurry is akin to driving as quickly as possible to get through fog.

The surprise was more that Hales supplied the foundation that England required. While his captain, the notoriously obdurate Alastair Cook, was drawn into a drive well away from his body, Hales showed that the old-fashioned attributes by which Test openers used to be judged - crease occupation, shot selection and patience - still have value in the modern game.

There were still some classy strokes. When the bowlers strayed on to his pads, he whipped through midwicket and when the ball was over-pitched he drove elegantly. Rangana Herath was cut nicely, too. But we knew Hales could play the attacking strokes; it was the defensive ones of which we had to see evidence.

Under the easy-going veneer, there is a steel to Hales. It took confidence to sit out the first few weeks of this county season; confidence to sit out the IPL; confidence to ignore those he knew would want him to push on the scoring rate here.

While the likes of Sam Robson were plundering early season runs, Hales had the wisdom to understand that what he required most, after an emotionally draining winter in which he featured in the England team in all three formats, was a mental break. And while few would have blamed him had he capitalised on his white-ball reputation - he has been rated No. 1 in the world in T20 cricket - and pursued a future as a T20 specialist, he has instead demonstrated his ambition by taking the higher-risk option and prioritised a Test career.

Most of all, he has learned that you have to earn the right to score quickly in Test cricket. You have to see off the new ball, wear down the bowlers and gain experience. Those urging him to push on in such circumstances are doing him no favours.

None of this should come as a surprise. Marcus Trescothick, arguably England's last quick-scoring, successful Test opener, took 25 deliveries to get off the mark on Test debut and 122 balls to reach his half-century. His strike-rate in Test cricket was only 46.34 for the first two years of his Test career, which is very similar to Cook's overall (46.30). From 2002 until the end of his career, it was 57.45.

But Trescothick understood, as Hales appears to now, that he had to give himself a chance to score quickly in Test cricket.

The most pleasing aspect of this innings from Hales was that it suggested he had learned from his previous experience. His performance in South Africa was characterised by fragility outside off stump. Unsure which balls to play and which to leave, which balls to attack and which to defend, his uncertainty was exploited to the tune of five catches in the cordon during the series.

Recognising his weakness, he returned to the nets at Nottinghamshire. Under the watchful eye of Peter Moores, a consultant coach at the club, he has noticeably tightened up his game and now appears to have the confidence in his defence to know he can endure relatively long scoreless spells. He took 115 balls to make 34 for Nottinghamshire against Yorkshire at the start of the month - a mature innings in demanding circumstances - and, after only one scoring shot in his first 26 balls here, has already produced, in terms of balls received, his longest Test innings. He will resume 29 short of a maiden Test century.

"I've tweaked a couple of things just outside off stump," Hales said. "In South Africa I was caught between defence and attack a couple of times and that's something I've been working upon. It's still a work in progress and I think that's going to be key to whether I'm successful as a Test player.

"I didn't feel out of my depth in South Africa. Even when I wasn't scoring runs, at no point did I feel out of my depth. It was more about me making mistakes than bowlers getting me out and, at the start of my career, I think I would prefer that. I know I'm still a work in progress.

"I took an extra couple of weeks to recharge myself. And that's done me the world of good. When I came back to practice it was a lot more intense. I knew what I wanted to improve and I feel like I've come a long way in the last six months. There was no inkling from the selectors whether they would stick with me.

"It was a challenging pitch and a challenging situation today. It was tricky. There was swing all day and some nibble and some bounce. I had to rein myself in a bit."

This does not mean England's search for a partner for Cook is over. On another day, the thick-edged drive that bypassed third slip and gully when he had 4 would have gone to hand; on another day, one of his slightly uppish cuts could have gone to a fielder. It is telling that he used the phrase "work in progress" about his game twice and he will be aware that both Robson and Adam Lyth hit Test centuries at Leeds only to be dropped within a few months. But this was an encouraging step forward.

As an aside, it is amusing to consider how such an innings from Nick Compton might have been received. Would he have been hailed for his determination or criticised for his limitations? While Hales was lauded for playing himself in and giving himself a chance to build an innings, would Compton have been criticised for putting too much pressure on his partners? He gave his detractors too much ammunition here with an edge to a regulation delivery in the channel outside off stump, but it does not always seem he is judged by the same standards as his colleagues.

The difference, perhaps, is that when Hales bats in such a manner, he is playing within himself, while Compton probably does not have that extra gear. But for an England side that again found themselves five wickets down uncomfortably early - they lost 3 for 2 at one stage - it is not the speed of scoring that is the issue so much as the speed of wickets falling.

But what a shame that only 9,436 people should be on the ground to witness an absorbing day's play. Everyone understands the importance of satisfying the broadcasters and the level of their investment to the English game. But there remains little evidence that there is an appetite - or a climate - to watch Test cricket in England in May outside London. While recent initiatives announced by Andrew Strauss may help generate a little more interest in international cricket, the more pressing issue is gaining greater exposure for the sport as a live spectacle either online or on TV. Ticket sales for Durham are significantly worse than those for Headingley.