Gary Simon Ballance was born on 22 November 1989 and is a former Zimbabwean cricketer who represented England internationally until 2017, and represented Zimbabwe in 2023.
79 Facts About Gary Ballance
2.
Gary Ballance is a left-handed batsman and a leg break bowler, who last played for Yorkshire County Cricket Club.
3.
Gary Ballance is known for his style of striking deep in the crease.
4.
Gary Ballance had a promising start to his Test career.
5.
On 25 April 2015, Ballance became the third fastest England Test cricketer to reach 1,000 runs, a feat which he achieved during the second Test against West Indies.
6.
Gary Ballance first played in the Second XI Championship in 2006, having made five appearances for Zimbabwe in the 2006 Under-19 World Cup, in which the team finished in sixth place.
7.
Gary Ballance played his first limited overs match two weeks later, having performed in the Derbyshire Second XI.
8.
Gary Ballance made his England debut on 3 September 2013 in an ODI against Ireland.
9.
Gary Ballance was named a Cricketer of the Year in the 2015 edition of the Wisden Cricketers' Almanack.
10.
In 2022 it was confirmed that, having served a period of ineligibility, Gary Ballance was eligible for selection by Zimbabwe, and had agreed a contract to do so from 2022 onwards before retiring in 2023.
11.
Gary Ballance was born and raised in Zimbabwe, where his parents were tobacco farmers.
12.
Gary Ballance grew and raised up in a village near Mutare, on the border of Mozambique.
13.
Gary Ballance hailed from a typical wealthy white Zimbabwean family.
14.
Gary Ballance was sent to boarding school at the age of five.
15.
Gary Ballance had occasionally played field hockey, tennis and rugby union for Zimbabwe in age group categories.
16.
Gary Ballance is distantly related to John Timms, a cricketer who played for Northamptonshire County Cricket Club from 1925 to 1949.
17.
Gary Ballance attended Harrow School for two years, where he was in the same team as Sam Northeast.
18.
Gary Ballance is related to former Zimbabwean cricket captain David Houghton through his father, who is a cousin of David's wife.
19.
In 2014, Gary Ballance was reportedly seen taking his shirt off during a night out in Nottingham nightclub as he was in celebration mode in an inebriated state enjoying and relieving about the memories of his own bowling when he eventually bowled a maiden over in the first test against India which ended in a draw.
20.
Gary Ballance revealed that his captain Cook had asked whether he was interested in bowling an over and Ballance accepted the captain's offer and delivered an over.
21.
Gary Ballance's wife Alex is a speech and language therapist hails from Middlesbrough.
22.
Gary Ballance is colour blind and consequently struggles to see a pink ball when batting.
23.
Gary Ballance obtained a sports scholarship in 2006 to Harrow and then moved to Derbyshire as an overseas player where he shared dressing room with his relative Dave Houghton, a fact which he barely knew at that time.
24.
Gary Ballance signed for Derbyshire for the 2006 season, playing exclusively in their second XI.
25.
Gary Ballance made his List A debut for Derbyshire against West Indies A on 6 August 2006 during a tour match and scored a fluent 48 which helped Derbyshire to win the match by 30 runs.
26.
Gary Ballance's talent was immediately spotted by Geoffrey Boycott who recommended him and his parents to join Yorkshire.
27.
Gary Ballance joined the Yorkshire Academy in 2008 at the end of the 2007 season as an overseas player after a brief spell at Debyshire which lasted for two seasons and he eventually attended the Leeds Metropolitan University where he studied only five lectures of a sports course, having dropped out after a year or so.
28.
Gary Ballance made his first-class debut for Yorkshire against Kent during the 2008 English cricket seasonat the St Lawrence Ground, Canterbury, on 11 July 2008.
29.
Gary Ballance teamed up with Joe Root at Yorkshire since his move to the club in 2008 and has since maintained a close bond with the latter.
30.
Gary Ballance made his T20 debut for Yorkshire against Warwickshire County Cricket Club on 4 July 2010 during the 2010 Friends Provident T20.
31.
Gary Ballance spent his English county offseason time in Zimbabwe playing for Mid West Rhinos at the Logan Cup where he gained his first taste of captaincy.
32.
Gary Ballance broke into the Yorkshire first team in 2011 and since then he became a regular member for the club.
33.
Gary Ballance pushed his case for selection into England senior national team after hammering centuries for England Lions against Australia and Bangladesh A during the 2013 season.
34.
Gary Ballance compiled record 1251 runs at the 2013 County Championship which helped him to receive maiden test call-up with England for the 2013=2014 Ashes.
35.
Gary Ballance was very much hyped among English cricketing fraternity in as early 2013 including former English captain Michael Vaughan who batted for Ballance to be in the mix for England test squad following his rich vein of form for Yorkshire during the 2013 County Championship.
36.
Gary Ballance himself grew up watching Michael Vaughan's batting whose batting style and technique he admired from early age.
37.
Gary Ballance missed most of the county matches for Yorkshire during the 2018 English cricket season owing to personal reasons.
38.
Gary Ballance made the most of the missed opportunities for Yorkshire during the 2019 County Championship piling up truckload and bulk of runs with an aggregate of 975 runs including five centuries and his performances suggested a possible international recall would be on the cards, but it did not materialise.
39.
Gary Ballance missed the entire 2020 domestic season, after its belated post-pandemic commencement, because of a series of reasons, including suffering from anxiety early in the season, followed by his wife testing positive for COVID-19.
40.
Gary Ballance subsequently missed the start of the 2021 season after a concussion in nets practice.
41.
Gary Ballance subsequently apologised to Rafiq for the language he used, but he criticized the journalists and media for "the misleading and selective nature of the reporting".
42.
Gary Ballance did not appear for Yorkshire's first team in 2022 but remained on the club's staff.
43.
In December 2022, Gary Ballance was released from his contract with Yorkshire two years early, under the condition that he does not play for a different County Championship side in 2023.
44.
Gary Ballance had not played first team cricket for Yorkshire since the scandal became public.
45.
Gary Ballance played for Zimbabwe national U-19 side during the 2006 U19 Cricket World Cup at the age of 16 while still being enrolled as a schoolboy at the Peterhouse Boys School in Marondera.
46.
Gary Ballance starred in famous upset win for Zimababwe against England both with the bat and ball as Zimbabwe won the thriller by two wickets after bowling out England for 172.
47.
Gary Ballance was selected to play in the 5th Test ahead of fellow Yorkshire teammate Joe Root.
48.
Gary Ballance became the 659th player to play for England and was handed his cap by captain Alastair Cook.
49.
Gary Ballance was one of three players, the others being Scott Borthwick and Boyd Rankin, to make their debuts in the 5th Test.
50.
Gary Ballance was sought as the best possble option to be the frontrunner to fill the No 6 batting position for England, a position which was a problematic concern for England for years having left rued in search of perfect successors to bank on that role.
51.
Test Match Special commentator Geoffrey Boycott acknowledged that Gary Ballance was incredibly unlucky to be dismissed, receiving a corker that pitched in the footmarks.
52.
Gary Ballance kept his place for the 2nd ODI however he managed only 9 runs off 19 balls before being stumped by Brad Haddin.
53.
Gary Ballance retained his place for the 4th ODI and made 18 runs off 30 balls before being caught.
54.
Gary Ballance was left out of the 5th ODI and was replaced by Joe Root.
55.
Gary Ballance featured in the 1st ODI against Sri Lanka, he top scored with 64 runs in England's win.
56.
Gary Ballance played in the 3rd ODI however he was not needed in England's 10 wicket win.
58.
Gary Ballance had mixed fortunes in the second test, scoring 74 in the first innings before being dismissed for a golden duck in the second, finishing the series with 205 runs.
59.
Gary Ballance hit his second Test hundred on 18 July 2014 against India.
60.
Gary Ballance became only the third England player to score hundreds in his first two Lord's Tests, after Andrew Strauss and Jonathan Trott.
61.
Gary Ballance scored an impressive 156 in the first innings of the third test but was unfortunate to be given out through a poor decision by the umpire.
62.
Gary Ballance was again unlucky when, on 38 in the second innings, he was given out caught when the ball only touched his trouser.
63.
Gary Ballance redeemed himself as an ideal go-to-man for England's no 3 spot at test level and arguably a perfect successor for Jonathan Trott during the career defining series against India.
64.
Gary Ballance was out for ten again as England slumped to an eight wicket defeat against New Zealand.
65.
Gary Ballance was then dropped from the side and played no further part in the tournament as England were eliminated at the Group stage.
66.
Gary Ballance continued in his role as No 3 batsman during England's tour of the West Indies.
67.
Gary Ballance made one in England first innings of the first Test and was then dismissed for a duck in the second innings.
68.
Gary Ballance's problems continued in the next Test as he was dismissed for 29 in England's first innings.
69.
Gary Ballance was recalled due to Nick Compton's poor form, and James Taylor being forced into retirement.
70.
Gary Ballance returned to the side for the Test series against Pakistan and made six in England first innings.
71.
Gary Ballance made 43 in their second innings as England lost the opening match by 75 runs.
72.
Gary Ballance made 70 in the first innings of the third Test, and made 23 in the second innings as England turned around the match to win 141 runs after a strong bowling display in the second innings.
73.
Gary Ballance made eight in England's first innings of the final Test, as England were dismissed for 328.
74.
On 6 July 2017, Gary Ballance was recalled to play in the first test against South Africa at Lord's after his form recovered for Yorkshire, and was selected under Joe Root's recommendation.
75.
Gary Ballance played the first two tests before a broken thumb ruled him out of the next two matches.
76.
Gary Ballance proved his mettle and justified his selection into test squad after having scored 815 runs and with an average over 101.87 for Yorkshire during the 2017 summer.
77.
Zimbabwe Cricket confirmed that Gary Ballance had transferred allegiance following a period of ineligibility, and would represent Zimbabwe from 2022 onwards.
78.
Gary Ballance is set to make his full fledged T20I debut representing Zimbabwe as he had never played a T20 International match in England colours.
79.
Gary Ballance scored a century in the match, making him the second person to score a Test match century for two different countries, after Kepler Wessels.