English cricket cancelled Gary Ballance but Zimbabwe has embraced him
Gary Ballance will be a familiar face on the balcony at Trent Bridge this week, returning as Zimbabwe's assistant coach to the scene of his last Test for England in 2017.
It is almost four years since Ballance last played for Yorkshire in September 2021. He was then released from his contract two years early in December 2023 at his own request in order to find a 'fresh start'.
Implicated heavily in the Azeem Rafiq racism scandal, Ballance arguably lost more than any of the accused in that whole saga.
He admitted to using racist language as part of what he said were friendly exchanges between the pair and apologised to Rafiq in person. Ballance was eventually given a six-match ban and £3,000 fine by the Cricket Disciplinary Commission.
By then he had already given up a lucrative county career at Yorkshire, and decided he had no future in England. In effect, English cricket had cancelled him. He was left broken, mentally exhausted by it all and felt he had to return to his home country to rebuild a shattered life.
Century on Zimbabwe Test debut for Gary Ballance 💪
Watch #ZIMvWI live and FREE on https://t.co/CPDKNxoJ9v (in select regions) 📺
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— ICC (@ICC) February 7, 2023
In Zimbabwe, he was soon persuaded to return to playing and proved he was still good enough. In his only Test match for the country, in February 2023, he scored 137 not out in Bulawayo against a West Indies attack featuring Kemar Roach, Alzarri Joseph and Jason Holder. It made him only the second cricketer after Kepler Wessels to score a Test hundred for two different countries.
But it did not last. Two months later he retired. 'I have reached the stage where I no longer have the desire to dedicate myself to the rigours of professional sport and this would do Zimbabwe cricket and the game itself a disservice, should I carry on,' he said.
Ballance has not spoken publicly about the toll the Yorkshire affair had on him but others have been open. Michael Vaughan told Telegraph Sport last year how he is managing a stress-induced inflammatory illness caused by the scandal. Matthew Hoggard revealed recently his fears his wife would take her life as the racism scandal engulfed him. John Blain admitted he had suicidal thoughts as well. Rafiq, too, moved away after receiving death threats following his appearance at a DCMS government hearing in which he accused cricket of being institutionally racist and said Ballance's racial language had left him feeling 'isolated and humiliated'.
Ballance's England career was already over by then. For a while he was a solid, consistent run-scorer at No 3. He finished his career with a Test career average just above 40 from 24 matches. He was the third-fastest England batsman to 1,000 Test runs, taking 17 innings, and scored four hundreds before his deep-in-the-crease technique was exposed by the pace of Australia and South Africa.
Considering his experience of English conditions, you could make a strong argument that of all the Zimbabweans at Trent Bridge this week, he would be the most likely to score a hundred in their first Test match in England for two decades. At 35, he could easily still be playing for Yorkshire, churning out a thousand championship runs a season and earning a good living as a consistent, reliable batsman available all summer. He is younger than Adam Lyth, still opening for Yorkshire, the same age as Jonny Bairstow and just 11 months older than Joe Root.
Instead he is rebuilding his life as a coach, and given his experiences over the past few years he will be able to offer young players valuable life lessons, aside from the technicalities of batting. He is said to relish coaching and few in English cricket will begrudge him a second chance, that 'fresh start' he had to leave this country to find.
Ballance will find friendly faces in the England dressing room. He was a housemate of Root's for a while and close to Ben Stokes. Harry Brook was a Yorkshire team-mate. The rest of his England generation have moved on.
He could not have been granted a more low-key return to cricket than a cold Thursday morning last week at Grace Road, where about 50 spectators huddled against the wind and the PA announcer warned there was no hot food on sale.
A four-day leg-stretcher against a Professional County Club Select XI in Leicester proved a tricky start for Zimbabwe. They lost by 138 runs despite taking a first-innings lead. The county team, coached by Andrew Flintoff and Mark Wood, declared at 464 for seven in their second innings with Thomas Rew, the 17-year-old younger brother of James who is in the England squad this week, scoring 103.
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