Ballance is not yet up to the task, says Holding

LEGENDARY former West Indies fast bowler Michael Holding has weighed in to the debate surrounding England’s poor World Cup performances, believing that Yorkshire’s Gary Ballance is not yet equipped for international one-day cricket.

The Yorkshire batsman has endured a torrid time since surprisingly being installed at No 3 for Eoin Morgan’s team for the opening game against co-hosts Australia.

Ballance has been unable to return the faith in him, scoring only 36 runs at an average of nine to leave his place in jeopardy ahead of Monday’s must-win encounter with Bangladesh in Adelaide.

“I’m not sure why Ballance has been used at three – he wasn’t even initially in the squad,” said Holding.

“He doesn’t know what’s going on.

“I rate Gary Ballance very much as a batsman for Test cricket, don’t get me wrong, but it seems to me that he hasn’t been able to adjust to one-day cricket yet. Perhaps further down the line he will.

“But, right now, I don’t think he’s the man for the job.”

In the build up to the World Cup, Cook was opening the batting with Moeen, Taylor was at 3 and Ravi came in anywhere from 5-7 as needed. All of this was completely scrapped on the eve of the World Cup with Cook finally getting the hook, Ballance inserted at 3, Taylor dropped to 6 and Ravi left on the outside looking in.

Ballance should be nowhere near the team on current form thus leaving the choice between Hales and Ravi to take his place. Ravi gives the team an extra bowler that offers something different to the rest of the seamers while Hales gives England a more attacking lineup.