Ballance tipped to star for England

by England selector James Whitaker this season, and is tipped to be the most likely White Rose player to follow York’s Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root into the England ranks.
The Yorkshire Post reported yesterday that if his good form continues, Ballance could even be in line for the Lions’ two four-day fixtures against Australia ‘A’ at Old Trafford and Edgbaston in August.
However the left-handed batsman maintains that his focus at the moment is on his game at Yorkshire.
“All I can say is that I need to keep scoring runs for Yorkshire and keep winning games. We’ll see where it goes from there,” he told the Yorkshire Post.
The 22-year old, who is nephew of former Zimbabwe international Dave Houghton, said he is determined to see his game blossom more than anything else.
Ballance was home last season and had a good performance to finish as the leading run scorer in both the Castle Lager Logan Cup competition and the limited overs Coca Cola Pro50 Championships.
Ballance topped the Logan Cup charts with 1 093 runs from 15 innings, at an average of 84.07 while he was also the leading batsman in the Pro50 Championships with 432 runs from nine innings.
He continued with the form to England for his county side. Ahead of this week’s Clydesdale Bank 40 match against Sussex, Ballance’s last three scores read 121 not out against Gloucester in the Championship, 76 against Hampshire in the same competition and 77 not out against Derbyshire in the 40-overs arena.
Ballance shared a fourth-wicket stand of 203 with Phil Jaques in the chase of 400 at Bristol and 149 for the fourth wicket with him in Yorkshire’s first innings against Hampshire at Headingley last week.
“I think my innings against Gloucester is up there with my best for Yorkshire. Having Phil Jaques at other end was a massive help. He was scoring runs quite quickly, so I thought I’d try to give him as much of the strike as possible,” he said.
Already Ballance has the admiration of his teammates who tip him for a call to the England colours.
The left-handed batsman, who is fully qualified for England, has not opened up on a possible future with his country of birth Zimbabwe. Ballance has been touted as one of the most promising talents in the Yorkshire books.
“Gary is a serious player,” said teammate Jaques.
“It was the first time I’d really seen him bat for an extended period of time at Gloucester, and he was really impressive. I’m sure there’ll be a few more hundreds to come.
“He could go to the Lions. If that hundred doesn’t make the selectors sit up and take notice, then I’m not here.”
And White Rose skipper Andrew Gale also added his voice. “Gary Ballance has got a big future. He has been brilliant for us over the last year and a half,” he said.