Gary Ballance: A much-needed addition to the Chevrons squad Gary Ballance

Brandon Moyo, Sports Reporter
TO score a game-changing total in the game of cricket, batting sides will often need contributions from quite a few of their established batters.

If a team only has one batter capable of playing a world-class knock, they are unlikely to post challenging totals on a regular basis.

The best cricket teams, such as the Australian test match side from the 90’s and the early 2000s and the English ODI side from 2015 onwards, have match-winners in all positions in their batting order, says Luke of Cricketers Hub.

Zimbabwe has a few match-winners with Sikandar Raza being the only batter who is consistent. But he won’t be alone for long as Gary Ballance will soon join the Chevrons.

The former England batter has approached the International Cricket Council (ICC) with the request of completing the formalities for him to switch his national side from England to Zimbabwe.

If and when the formalities are completed, Ballance can be drafted into the Zimbabwe national side straightaway, as ICC guidelines say that there has to be a minimum three-year gap between a player featuring for two different national sides if he is eligible and in Ballance’s case, since he last featured for England in 2017 itself, the criteria of a three-year gap has been fulfilled already.

Ballance was born and raised in Zimbabwe, where his parents were tobacco farmers. He attended Springvale House and Peterhouse Boys’ School.

After representing Zimbabwe in cricket at various age levels, including at the U19 level, he moved to England in 2006.

He attended Harrow School for two years, where he was in the same team as Sam Northeast. Playing for Harrow, he scored a century against Eton College at Lord’s.

He later landed himself a fruitful county deal with Yorkshire, which allowed him to settle in his cricketing career. The southpaw later went on to play for England in both red ball and white ball cricket.

Ballance is related to David Houghton, the Chevrons coach, through his father, who is a cousin of David’s wife.

Ballance married his wife Alex in December 2018. He is colour blind and consequently struggles to see a pink ball when batting.

Zimbabwe lack a solid player and having a player of Ballance’s calibre would bring balance to the Chevron’s top order which tends to struggle.

The player still has about three or four years left in him and the youngsters in the national team can learn a lot from him.

Ballance has the much-needed experience and international exposure after representing England and playing county cricket. He made his England debut on 3 September 2013 in an ODI against Ireland.

On 25 April 2015 Ballance became the third fastest England Test cricketer to reach 1 000 runs, in the second Test against West Indies. Ballance was named a Cricketer of the Year in the 2015 edition of the Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack.

Having played at the highest level, the Chevrons need such a player to create a potent attack against the best at the world cup. With 100 T20 games under his name he has the experience that the team needs.

Ballance played 23 tests for England scoring four hundreds and has an average of 37.45, and also 16 ODIs, scoring two 50s at an average of 21.21.

The team also needs more depth and options in the attack and Ballance gives the selectors a wide pool to choose from and players will be forced to up their game to keep their spots.

He could also pave the way for other Zimbabwean born cricketers playing abroad to come back and play for their country.

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