Chronicle Editor
Brandon Moyo
FORMER Zimbabwe and England international, Gary Ballance has been suspended for eight weeks by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) over last year’s Yorkshire racism scandal.
On top of the suspension, Ballance is also set to be fined 8 000 Pounds. The 33 year old batter is one of the seven others who are accused of using racist language towards former Yorkshire bowler, Azeem Rafiq.
However, the suspension will have little consequence as Ballance, last month announced his retirement from cricket. Due to the racism scandal, the top order batter was not considered for England selection before he switched allegiance to Zimbabwe.
Ballance made his Chevrons debut in January in a T20I series against Ireland that was played at Harare Sports Club, which became his first and last international 20-over match.
In just his second One Day International (ODI) match for Zimbabwe, the country of his birth, he scored his maiden half century. He made 52 runs for Dave Houghton’s side in a series that ended 1-1. He also scored another unbeaten half century in what turned out to be his final match for Zimbabwe on 25 March against Netherlands. He made 64 runs as Zimbabwe put up a brilliant performance to win the series 2-1 after a dismal start.
Ballance, who was a known longer-version specialist, made history in the only Test he played for Zimbabwe. He notched up a century to remove the Chevrons from the jaws of defeat in February this year when playing against the West Indies at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo. Ballance became the second player in the history of the game after Kepler Wessels to score a century for two different countries after he compiled an unbeaten 137 runs. Wessels notched up centuries for Australia and South Africa.
He also joined an elite group of Zimbabweans to score centuries on Test debut. Houghton and Hamilton Masakadza are the only two Chevrons stars to have managed that feat.
In total, Ballance played a total of 24 Test matches, racking up 1 653 runs and a high score of 156 runs at an average of 40, 31. In ODIs, he played 21 matches, scored 454 runs with a high score of 79 at an average of 25. 22 while in the shortest version of the game, he scored 30 runs in one match
In an article from English publication, Sky Sports, Ballance’ lawyer, Craig Harris argued that the financial penalty should be reduced, due to the cost of being involved in the proceedings, namely that he lost his job as a Yorkshire player, a sponsorship contract and also was not considered for England selection.
The ECB is also set to recommend sanctions to be imposed on the other six, John Blain, Tim Bresnan, Andrew Gale, Mathew Hoggard and Richard Pyrah and Michael Vaughan. – Follow on Twitter @brandon_malvin
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