Stuart Broad put pressure on England’s selectors yesterday to pick Alex Hales as he believes the opener has the talent to rescue their World Cup hopes.

Three heavy defeats out of four has left England on the brink of elimination and needing wins against Bangladesh and Afghanistan to give themselves any chance of making the quarter-finals.

Hales is yet to enter the field of play, with Coach Peter Moores and captain Eoin Morgan keeping the lineup unchanged.

But with the must-win match against Bangladesh coming on Monday, Moores and Morgan have a difficult decision to make and Broad would like to see Hales — the third-ranked Twenty20 batsman in the world — given a chance to get this dismal campaign up-and-running.

“He’s a player who can change momentums of games,” Broad said.

“We are looking for players to stand up. (It’s) part of being in a World Cup. No we’ve not got the results we want but every player in the squad should be quite excited because it only takes a great run-out or an amazing catch for the whole momentum of our campaign to change so every player should be thinking: ‘I can change the momentum of this World Cup’.”

Hales has proved he has what it takes to dominate the international stage, hitting a remarkable century against Sri Lanka at the 2014 World Twenty20 but was unable to replicate that performance in his 50-over debut against India in the summer.

The 26-year-old right-hander scored 40 and 42 in his first two games but since then has managed just one score over 10 in five innings.

“He is the sort of player who can get you nought or 140,” Broad said.

“He is a dangerous player. That World Cup knock in Bangladesh against Sri Lanka was one of the best you’ve seen.

“He obviously struggled when he came into the 50-over side a bit, didn’t he, in the India series.”

Broad denied, though, that he was found out against India, adding: “I don’t know if he has technical faults. He has scored six or seven hundreds for Notts in the past two years.

“I like him as a player. He has been a good teammate of mine and I have watched him play some great knocks at Notts and in T20 stuff, that match-winning 99 against West Indies at Trent Bridge.”