Alex Hales was removed from England's squad for the Cricket World Cup following a meeting of the country's senior players who believed he showed a lack of respect for team values and could no longer be trusted.

Key points: Alex Hales was dumped from the World Cup squad after a second suspension for off-field behaviour

Alex Hales was dumped from the World Cup squad after a second suspension for off-field behaviour England captain Eoin Morgan has revealed the team's senior players made the call he could not be trusted

England captain Eoin Morgan has revealed the team's senior players made the call he could not be trusted Morgan said if Hales had gone to the tournament the other 14 players "would have been dragged down"

Hales was due to feature in this year's World Cup tournament on home soil until newspaper reports that the 30-year-old was serving a 21-day ban after twice testing positive for recreational drugs.

England captain Eoin Morgan, the team's Australian head coach, Trevor Bayliss, and national selector Ed Smith had all been kept in the dark about those developments, with the England and Wales Cricket Board's (ECB) guidelines binding the organisation's hands.

Only chief medical officer Dr Nick Peirce, managing director of men's cricket Ashley Giles and chief executive Tom Harrison had been informed of Hales' circumstances and were bound by a duty of confidentiality not to share the information.

However, once the team became aware, an ad-hoc committee of players convened by Morgan made it clear Hales would have to go.

Speaking publicly about Hales' deselection for the first time, the England skipper delivered a scathing condemnation of the batsman's behaviour.

"Unfortunately, Alex's actions have shown complete disregard for those [team] values," a visibly unhappy Morgan said on Thursday.

"This has created a lack of trust between Alex and the team.

"On Saturday, we got together as a group of senior players to discuss the effect the news coming out would have on the team and the culture. We all agreed the best decision for the team was for Alex to be deselected."

It was the second time Hales has been sanctioned under the England and Wales Cricket Board's disciplinary policy, having been suspended and fined for his part in a street brawl also involving England teammate Ben Stokes in September 2017.

England captain Eoin Morgan (L) and coach Trevor Bayliss were caught unawares by reports of Alex Hales' ban. ( REUTERS: Dinuka Liyanawatte, file photo )

Hales has accused England's hierarchy of reneging on promises, saying he was given assurances his latest suspension would not affect his selection for the World Cup.

Morgan said England's players had "worked extremely hard on our culture" in the wake of the late-night incident involving Stokes and Hales in Bristol, which eventually saw Stokes cleared by a court on a charge of affray.

"It really did open our eyes to ourselves, not just being judged as performers but how we are as role models, who really need to step up and recognise that's a huge part of our job," Morgan said.

"We will need at least 15 men to win the World Cup and, whatever way Alex would have dealt with it, the other 14 people would have been dragged down and that would have been quite a weight taken forward.

"I don't think we have cast him adrift … [but] to deselect him we felt was the best decision, simply because he did not adhere to everything that we have been working towards for a very long time."

England starts a busy summer of international cricket with an ODI against Ireland on Friday.

It is one of the team's warm-up games ahead of the World Cup, which starts on May 30.

AP