A two-year contract with Gary Ballance’s birthplace of Zimbabwe has been reached. Ballance will be permitted to play both local and international cricket in Zimbabwe for a two-year period, per the deal. Due to the racism incident, the 33-year-contract old’s with Yorkshire was just terminated.
Notably, as a young student competing in the 2006 U-19 World Cup, Ballance represented the Zimbabwe team. From 2013 to 2017, he played for England in 23 Tests and 16 ODIs of international cricket, scoring four test hundreds. Director of Cricket for Zimbabwe Cricket Hamilton Masakadza showed the left-handed batsman a lot of encouragement and enthusiasm upon his return to the country of his origin.
“We are elated to have Gary, an immensely talented and experienced cricketer, back home where it all started for him. He is a great addition to our domestic and international set-up and we are looking forward to him making a massive difference for us,” Masakadza was quoted as saying by Zimbabwe Cricket’s official website. Ballance, meanwhile, expressed his enthusiasm for working with Zimbabwe cricket and his strong desire to keep playing cricket for the promising African nation. He recalled keeping in touch with some Zimbabwean cricketers and emphasized their recent improvements in performance.
“I’m thrilled to be joining Zimbabwe Cricket and can’t wait to start work with some great coaches and talented players. The opportunity to represent Zimbabwe has given me a new-found passion and excitement for the game. I have kept in touch with a number of people within Zimbabwe cricket over the years and it has been great to watch their recent progress especially,” Ballance told after agreeing to the contract. Recently, Zimbabwe Cricket announced the beginning of their own private franchise T10 competition, which would begin in March of the following year.
