Ballance urged to adopt patient approach in bid for Ashes debut

The left-handed Yorkshire batsman, uncapped at Test level and with just a solitary one-day international appearance to his name, was a surprise inclusion in the 
17-man squad to take on Australia this winter.

With England chasing a fourth straight Ashes success – a feat they last achieved in the 19th Century – and their second inside a year, Alastair Cook will be keen for his side to hit the ground running when their first three-day warm-up game gets under way on October 31 against Western Australia at the WACA in Perth.

And with just two further four-day fixtures – against Australia A (starting November 6) and New South Wales (November 13) – scheduled before the first Test at Brisbane on November 21, Collingwood believes Ballance could find opportunities hard to come by.

Speaking exclusively to the Yorkshire Post in his role as an ambassador for Yorkshire Bank, Collingwood said: “Gary Ballance was perhaps a surprise inclusion. A little bit, anyway, because you look around the county circuit and there are a lot of good players.

“I haven’t seen a lot of Gary, to be fair. I know he has done really well in Twenty20 and one-day cricket.

“But, as I said, I haven’t seen enough of him technically to say whether he is good enough or not.

“The great thing about the (England) selectors right now is that if you do well in the county game then you have a real chance to play in the big occasions, like the Ashes.

“In that respect, Gary thoroughly deserves his call-up because of what a good season he has had.

“But it is going to be a hard team to get into. I know on the last tour (in 2010-11) when we were successful, we put a lot of emphasis and detail into trying to win the warm-up games.

“We wanted to get that momentum early on and to do that, you need to play your strongest side. I would have thought England will go down that road again.”

If, as seems likely, England do adopt this approach in their warm-up fixtures, Ballance could be in for a long wait with just one more fixture – a two-day game in Alice Springs against the Chairman’s XI – scheduled during the Test series itself.

A lack of cricket can, of course, hinder a player’s development. Yorkshire members still rue the amount of time Adil Rashid spent away on tour with England while not playing as a reason for the Bradford-born all-rounder’s career suffering a dip.

Asked about drawing a possible comparison between Rashid and Ballance, Collingwood replied: “Every player wants game time. But it is probably not so vital as a batsman compared to a bowler, particularly a spin bowler. They need overs under their belt. The key, though, is the team being in the best possible shape for the Test series. And that means taking the warm-up games seriously.

“People may dismiss that and say, ‘They are just warm-ups’. But you have to send a message out and winning those games does that. England need to get the confidence flowing and then take that into the Tests series.”

Collingwood twice toured Australia with England, being part of the squad thrashed 5-0 in 2006-07 and then helping the tourists to a 3-1 success last time around.

Capped 68 times, the Durham-born batsman became the first Englishman to hit a double hundred in Australia for 78 years when he plundered 206 in Adelaide seven years ago. Collingwood called time on his Test career immediately after the 2010-11 series triumph.

Asked whether England can repeat that success of three years ago, he said: “I think we can do it, yes. Australia are still rebuilding and still have a lot of things going on behind the scenes.

“They are asking, ‘What is our best team? Who should play?’ All the stuff we used to go through, basically. It is nice to see.

“We struggled against them for many years so I have no sympathy with Australia. They are going through a rebuilding process and when you are on top of a team (as England are after triumphing 3-0 last summer) you don’t want to let them back in.

“Australia will argue they had times in the summer series that it could have gone either way. But, to me, the good teams seize the initiative at the right time and England certainly did that.

“To win by 3-0 seems a huge, huge margin but it will be tougher Down Under. Playing in Australia is different to playing anywhere else, mainly because of the intensity and the pressure.

“The Australians love to hate us, it is as simple as that. Competition is fierce, both out on the park and in the media. It is intense throughout the three and a half months you are there. That is what can make it a tough place to tour.

“But, if you are on top then it is one of the best places to tour. Another factor that I think will help England is that there isn’t the gap between series that there usually is. That means the summer is still pretty fresh. I guess what you are losing is that big build-up because everything is rolled into one.

“But, in many ways, I think this will help England. our victory is fresh in the mind and the pressure is on Australia.

“They simply don’t have too much time to rebuild and find ways to overcome England.”

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n Paul Collingwood is an ambassador for Yorkshire Bank, who have rewarded cricket fans this season by giving away 150 cricket bats through their Giving Bat to You campaign. He was speaking at the Yorkshire Bank 40 End of Season Lunch at Headingley.