Former England Test batter Gary Ballance has been appointed as a coaching consultant by Zimbabwe in preparation for their upcoming one-off Test against England.
Ballance, who played international cricket for both England and Zimbabwe before retiring in 2023, will join the side for the Test match which starts on May 22 at Trent Bridge.
The middle-order batter played 23 Tests for England from 2014 to 2017, in which he scored four centuries and averaged 37.45. He made his debut on the 2013/14 Ashes tour in Australia, and became the third-fastest England player ever to reach 1,000 Test runs – a record he now shares with Harry Brook. However, a drop in his returns meant he did not play for England after their series against South Africa in 2017.
Ballance requested to be released from his contract with Yorkshire in 2023 after he was implicated in Azeem Rafiq's DCMS testimony, and admitted using a racial slur. He last played for Yorkshire in 2021 and took a lengthy break from cricket to manage his mental health.
Gary Balance -
Following being released from Yorkshire, Ballance – who was born in Harare and represented Zimbabwe at the U19 World Cup in 2006 – signed a two-year deal with Zimbabwe in a new start to his career.
He subsequently played one T20I, five ODIs and one Test match for Zimbabwe in 2023, scoring a fifth Test century against West Indies. That hundred made him only the second player in history to score Test centuries for two different nations, former Australia and South Africa player Kepler Wessels the only other to have done so.
Ballance retired from international cricket in April 2023, citing that he no longer had "the desire to dedicate myself to the rigours of professional sport".
Speaking on Ballance's appointment to Zimbabwe's coaching staff, Zimbabwe Cricket managing director Givemore Makoni said: "We are thrilled to welcome Gary Ballance to our coaching set-up for this historic tour. His deep understanding of English conditions, gained over years of playing at the highest level, will be a valuable asset to our team’s tactical preparation."
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