, Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...

) is a first-class cricket

First-class cricket

First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...

er. He is a left-handed batsman and a leg-break bowler, who currently plays for Yorkshire County Cricket Club

Yorkshire County Cricket Club

Yorkshire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Yorkshire as one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure....

.

Ballance first played in the Second XI Championship

Second XI Championship

The Second XI Championship is a season-long cricket competition in England that is competed for by the reserve teams of those county cricket clubs that have first-class status...

 in 2006, having made five appearances for Zimbabwe in the 2006 Under-19 World Cup, in which the team finished in sixth place. In the final match for the team, Ballance scored a half-century, gaining notice from Derbyshire

Derbyshire County Cricket Club

Derbyshire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the England and Wales domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Derbyshire...

 and earned the chance to sign for the team in 2006. He played his first limited overs match two weeks later, having performed in the Derbyshire Second XI.

At the end of the 2007 season, Ballance left Derbyshire to sign academy terms with Yorkshire. He made his first-class debut for Yorkshire against Kent

Kent County Cricket Club

Kent County Cricket Club is one of the 18 first class county county cricket clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the county of Kent...

 at the St Lawrence Ground

St Lawrence Ground

The St Lawrence Ground is a cricket ground in Canterbury, Kent and is the home of Kent County Cricket Club. It is one of the oldest grounds on which first-class cricket is played, having been in use since 1847...

, Canterbury

Canterbury

Canterbury is a historic English cathedral city, which lies at the heart of the City of Canterbury, a district of Kent in South East England. It lies on the River Stour....

, in July 2008. In the first-class match against Durham MCC University in April 2011, Ballance scored 72 and 73 not out.

Ballance's uncles, David Houghton and William Houghton, were both first-class cricketers.

External links

• Gary Ballance at CricketArchive