×
NewsDay

AMH is an independent media house free from political ties or outside influence. We have four newspapers: The Zimbabwe Independent, a business weekly published every Friday, The Standard, a weekly published every Sunday, and Southern and NewsDay, our daily newspapers. Each has an online edition.

Ballance in England provisional squad for Champions Trophy

Sport
ZIMBABWE-born batsman Gary Ballance moved a step closer to representing England after being included in their provisional 30-man squad

ZIMBABWE-born batsman Gary Ballance moved a step closer to representing England after being included in their provisional 30-man squad for the ICC Champions Trophy to be played in England and Wales in June.

Report by Daniel Nhakaniso

Zimbabwe will not be part of the ICC Champions Trophy as it is only competed for by the eight highest-ranked one-day international teams as of six months prior to the tournament.

Ballance, who is the nephew of former Zimbabwe captain Dave Houghton, was one of the four uncapped players named in the English squad together with Varun Chopra, James Harris and Chris Wright.

The squad will be cut down to 15 on May 5.

Ballance, who has not made a secret of his English ambitions, played a vital role in Yorkshire gaining their Division One status in 2012 and his unbeaten 121 against Gloucestershire helped the county pull off of their second biggest run chase of 400.

He also scored prolifically in the CB40 series, amassing 469 runs at an average of 58,62 and also accumulated 356 runs in Twenty20 games for the county side including a couple of half-centuries in the Champions League tournament.

His success in the English domestic circuit earned him a place in the development England Lions squad during their limited overs tour of Australia in February where he scored a couple of half-centuries against Victoria and one against Australia A.

Ballance played for Zimbabwe Under-19 at the 2006 World Cup in which the team finished in sixth place, but signed terms with Derbyshire ahead of that same summer.

At the end of the 2007 season, Ballance left Derbyshire to sign academy terms with Yorkshire.

He made his first-class debut for Yorkshire in July 2008 and remained with the same side since then despite several stints in the Zimbabwean franchise league with the Mid West Rhinos.

He 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 in 2012.