'We certainly won't turn him away' - Houghton ready to welcome Zimbabwe-born Gary Ballance

Dave Houghton and Gary Ballance [Image Credits- InsideSport]

Zimbabwe head coach Dave Houghton has said that Yorkshire cricketer Gary Ballance will be welcomed with open arms, should the latter decide to play for the country of his birth.

Ballance, 32, was born in Harare before he and his family moved to England when he was a schoolboy.

The left-handed batter has represented the 'Three Lions' in 23 Tests and 16 ODIs but has not added another international cap to his tally since July 2017.

Ballance is currently in wilderness following racism allegations from his former teammate Azeem Rafiq at Yorkshire.

The former Yorkshire skipper was subsequently suspended by the ECB. He is set to plead guilty in the next hearing after having apologised to Rafiq last month.

Houghton spoke to the media ahead of Zimbabwe's 2nd ODI against Australia where he said:

"I've known Gary since he was a kid and I speak to him reasonable regularly. I don't think Gary would be against coming back to play for Zimbabwe but he's still got to sort out things in England,"

"I think he's probably got another eight to nine good years in him, so if he wants to come back we certainly won't turn him away."

Gary Ballance had a stellar start to his Test career

Ballance made his Test debut for England during the disastrous Ashes campaign Down Under in the winter of 2013/14.

The southpaw went on to make a mark in his first year in Test cricket with volumes of runs against Sri Lanka and India in the home summer.

Ballance took just 10 Tests and 17 innings to breach the 1000-run mark and it felt as if England had a No.3 locked in for a decade.

However, the flame quickly dissipated as he got worked out by the bowlers, with his next 13 innings yielding just two 50+ scores.

Ballance was eventually dropped during the 2017 summer and even though he scored volumes of runs for Yorkshire during the 2019 season, the calls for his return were muted. And, the recent racism allegations made his path even more murkier.

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