Quote: GARY BALLANCE says returning to a winning dressing room at Yorkshire has helped maintain his confidence after being left out of England’s Ashes side for the last three Test matches.
Ballance has also revealed the feeling of pride at being able to call himself an Ashes winner and the determination he has to win his place back in the international game.
The White Rose batsman has been back with his county since last month’s omission from the third Test at Edgbaston, with Jonny Bairstow being preferred following a run of 134 runs in four matches against New Zealand and Australia.
Despite this barren run, he still managed to contribute a gutsy 61 during the opening day of the first Test against the Aussies at Cardiff, helping England recover from 43-3 to 430 on the way to a victory.
“After missing out on Test matches, being able to come back into a side where confidence was high and the lads flying has been brilliant,†said the left-hander.
“That’s really helped me because it’s great to be a part of a team who’s doing well.
“It was great to get a few games in the Ashes. I would have liked more, but I contributed at Cardiff with a decent score in the first innings. I can say I’m an Ashes winner.
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“I feel like I played the situation well that day, and I was happy with my performance.
“I’ll never forget the feeling of winning that game because of the magnitude of the series. Those kind of things will last way beyond my cricketing career.
“I’d have liked more games, of course, but it makes me more hungry for more.
“There are things I can work on, I know that, and hopefully I can build on what I’ve done so far through the rest of the summer and improve as a player."
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I really hope he can work on his footwork and technique to force his way back into the England team. He might not be the most aesthetically pleasing batsman to watch, but he is a real fighter. I still think he can consider himself slightly unlucky to have been dropped from the team. Had Lyth and/or Bell not also struggled mightily, I think he probably would have remained in the team, but when three out of the top 4 were continually getting out for nowt, changes needed to be made.
He has gone away and scored runs for Yorkshire (average of 47.40 in 7 county championship matches) although as we all know, there is a world of difference between first-class cricket and Test cricket.
In his 15 Test matches to date, Ballance has scored 1194 runs. To put this into context, the only batsman to have scored more runs in 15 matches or fewer is Trinidad's own Charlie Davis, and no batsman has more scores of 50+.