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New Zealand and Auckland batsman Colin Munro will miss the next round of games in the domestic first-class competition, the Plunket Shield, due to a code of conduct breach. At a hearing on March 8, Munro was found guilty of using “inappropriate language” in Auckland’s previous game, against Canterbury. He did not appeal the verdict.New Zealand Cricket chief executive David White said in a statement: “Colin Munro has been suspended from playing in the upcoming eighth round of the Plunket Shield, as a result of a Code of Conduct hearing following the Aces’ previous match, against Canterbury at Eden Park. Munro had used inappropriate language in the round-seven fixture and, given his previous record in this area, handed down a one-match suspension.”Auckland’s next match is against Northern Districts, from March 14. They currently sit fourth out of seven teams on the points table, with one wins, two losses and four draws. Munro has been in good touch in the competition, hitting three centuries in six innings to total 475 runs at 95.00.

AB de Villiers brought it up first this time. South Africa are heading back to Eden Park for a winner-takes-all showdown. And it’s not a one-off T20I this time.Neither is it a World Cup semi-final, but with the Champions Trophy looming, it is not irrelevant.Throughout the first few days of this tour, every South African player put up for interview was asked for memories of the famous semi-final almost two years ago. The general mood was that it would always be part of their history, but it’s time to move on.After winning the T20, de Villiers smiled when he said he had seen endless runs of the semi-final on TV since arriving in New Zealand and added that time had helped him see “only good things” about the game.Now, after seeing this series levelled on the back of Martin Guptill’s unbeaten 138-ball 180, de Villiers hinted at South Africa’s history with the venue for the deciding encounter.”There’s a big final to play, there’s a lot at stake, it’s a big-pressure game,” he said. “It would be great for us to come through a big-pressure game like that, especially at Eden Park. We won the T20 and it would be great to win the ODI and finish this leg of the tour on a high. We haven’t yet hit our straps as we wanted to, yet, in both departments, so hopefully it will happen in the last game.”Twice he called Saturday’s match a “pressure game” and twice he termed it a “final” – a combination of factors that haunts South African cricket history. Even a decider of a bilateral series – during which South Africa have seen their No. 1 ranking slip away – can’t replicate the significance of a global tournament semi-final, but it’s the closest they will get before it comes to crunch time at the Champions Trophy.No one came into this series with a bigger reputation than Imran Tahir. He is ranked No. 1 in both white-ball formats and claimed 5 for 24 in the T20 victory. However, in the ODIs he has been kept quiet with just four wickets and an economy rate of 5.87. In Tuesday’s match at Seddon Park, New Zealand mixed caution with aggression – two maidens being traded for 56 runs, including five sixes hit by Guptill.De Villiers acknowledged how New Zealand have been able to combat Tahir’s threat, but expected the surface at Eden Park to be more to his liking.”They respect him a bit more, are playing him better, and that sometimes happens if you have a match-winner in your team,” he said. “We also look after one or two of their bowlers and are confident we dominate the rest. They have a similar game plan against Immi; they really looked after him well tonight (on Wednesday). They took him on at the right time.”Eden Park’s wicket is a bit quicker; Immi likes to bowl on quicker wickets. Tonight’s was pretty slow, so even if you didn’t pick him, you could play him. Most spinners like a pitch that turns quickly.”Respect was the word used by Mike Hesson as well when asked about quelling the threat of Tahir. After the T20 thrashing, he had said it was important New Zealand played Tahir on “their terms” rather than being forced to chase the game against him. Instead, Hesson believed they have made Tahir strain for success.”We’ve respected him as a threat, also bearing in mind if we deny him wickets he does go searching a little bit and create scoring opportunities.”

Eight of the top Associate teams in world cricket have touched down in the United Arab Emirates this week to compete in – what a few of the participants have dubbed a ‘mini-Associate World Cup’ – the inaugural Desert T20 Challenge. Associate teams are constantly pining for more opportunities to play and, as such, this tournament is a welcome addition to their fixture calendar, one that they hope is not a one-off.Some of the participants are looking at this tournament as a way to make a big statement by potentially knocking off some of their big-named peers, such as Afghanistan. For others, it is an opportunity to blood new talent in a rare Associate event in which promotion, relegation or some other form of ICC tournament qualification or progression isn’t at stake.The format has eight teams split into two groups of four, and playing three round-robin group games. The top two teams from each group then advance to finals day, with a pair of semi-finals played on the morning and afternoon of January 20 before the final that same night. Here’s a look at how each team is shaping up heading into the tournament that begins from January 14 in Abu Dhabi.Group A
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We’ll try to repeat what we did in 2016 – Rashid Khan

AfghanistanThe top-seeded tournament favourites took another big step forward last year by not only reaching the main draw of the World T20, but beating eventual world champions West Indies in a low-scoring thriller in the group stage. In terms of their T20 form, they swept UAE 3-0 in a series held in Dubai last month, giving them more recent game experience in the format than every other team in the tournament.Aside from the usual suspects like Mohammad Shahzad and Dawlat Zadran leading the way with bat and ball, some younger faces have emerged to ensure that Afghanistan remain the top dogs of Associate cricket. Najibullah Zadran was the Man of the Match in the win over West Indies and the impact of that performance gave him a wondrous boost of confidence that carried over through the rest of 2016. In the recent series against UAE, Najibullah scored a total of 104 runs off 45 balls across three innings, without being dismissed in his role as the team’s finisher. Any team hoping looking to disrupt Afghanistan’s path to the final will need to find a way to cool down his red-hot bat.United Arab EmiratesAfter a poor showing at the 2015 World T20 Qualifier, UAE sprang a major surprise by upending Afghanistan, Hong Kong and Oman to reach the main draw of the 2016 Asia Cup, where they very nearly pulled off another upset against Sri Lanka. It was their bad luck that Lasith Malinga decided to suit up to test his bruised knee ahead of the World T20, wrecking UAE with a spell of 4 for 26 in their pursuit of a target of 130. Malinga hasn’t played another match since.Though they were downed by Afghanistan last month in all three T20Is in Dubai, UAE ran them close in the first two encounters. They fell 11 runs short chasing down 161 in the first match before Shaiman Anwar’s half-century in a total of 179 was negated by the brilliance of Najibullah. Shaiman was the leading scorer in the three-match series with 150 runs and he’ll need to produce similar output to give UAE the best chance of reaching the semis.William Porterfield and Ireland have not had much to cheer about in T20 cricket of late•ICC/Getty Images

IrelandIt may seem odd to some that Ireland and Afghanistan were paired in the same group for the round-robin stage, especially when they’ll be facing each other in an extended tour beginning in March. But Ireland was drawn on this side by virtue of having the lowest T20I ranking – 17th – of any team at the tournament. It is the most tangible representation of their struggles in the format. Beginning with a shocking loss to Papua New Guinea in Belfast at the 2015 World T20 Qualifier, they have lost eight of their last 11 completed T20Is.Ireland’s most recent match was a 40-run loss at home to Hong Kong in September in which they brought in five debutants in an attempt to stop the rot. The most promising performance from that group was delivered by Greg Thompson, who top-scored with 44 that day.William Porterfield is the longest tenured captain at the tournament and will be hoping that a return to the site of Ireland’s victorious 2012 and 2013 World T20 Qualifier campaigns may serve as an inspiration to turn around their fortunes.NamibiaThe only team without T20I status in the tournament, Namibia received an invitation after Papua New Guinea declined to participate. In their most recent major T20 tournament action, they ended up a frustrating seventh place at the 2015 World T20 Qualifier after having finished third in the group stages. With two chances to clinch a trip to India, they were soundly beaten by the Netherlands before being stunned by Oman, which not only cost them a spot at the main tournament but a chance at T20I status as well.Namibia had a rocky road against other Associates throughout 2016 as well, losing an Intercontinental Cup match by an innings to Afghanistan before being swept in a pair of WCL Championship matches in Nepal. Their problems were magnified when a full-strength side were delivered a crushing 141-run home defeat in September by Saudi Arabia in preparation for a I-Cup and WCLC tour of Papua New Guinea, which also ended with three losses. Their hopes for reaching the semis may be pinned to the return of Louis van der Westhuizen. The big-hitting left-hander helped Namibia to a 7-0 record in round-robin play at the 2012 World T20 Qualifier in these same venues, including a destructive century against Scotland, but was out of the side for nearly two years before marking his return in November.Group B
Peter Borren will try to shore up Netherlands, who have not played regularly in the lead-up to this tournament•International Cricket Council

NetherlandsThe highest seeded team in their half of the draw have shown remarkable resiliency to replenish their available assets over the years to keep themselves in the conversation for top Associates. This has shown through particularly in T20I cricket where once again they demonstrated their capabilities on a global stage at last year’s World T20, running Bangladesh very tight before succumbing by eight runs, before continuing to have Ireland’s number with a win in Dharamsala.Their entire fixture list has been sparse since then. A grand total of four days of cricket since last March – losing inside of two days to Afghanistan in the Intercontinental Cup in July, followed by a WCL Championship split with Nepal in August – may have allowed some rust to build and it was borne out in a five-wicket loss to a UAE Developmental XI on Wednesday. It’s up to captain Peter Borren to coax a good bounce back in their opening encounter against Oman on Sunday.Hong KongThe lone side in this group to play a T20I since the World T20 in March, Hong Kong defeated Ireland by 40 runs in September and have stayed fairly busy since then in all formats with tours to Scotland and Kenya in addition to hosting Papua New Guinea for three ODIs in November. Most recently they had a development tour to Australia with an emphasis on T20 cricket, which included games against Sydney Sixers and Sydney Thunder.The batting is headlined by captain Babar Hayat, who eclipsed Afghanistan batsman Mohammad Shahzad’s then record score of 118* to produce the highest T20I score by an Associate player when he made 122 in a loss to Oman at the 2016 Asia Cup. Hayat will be tasked with taking a good chunk of the batting burden in the absence of Mark Chapman, who continues to develop playing with Auckland in New Zealand’s domestic competition. The spin arsenal, led by left-armer Nadeem Ahmed, may be a handful in these conditions.Calum MacLeod will be looking to bring the big runs into T20s as well•Peter Della Penna

ScotlandDespite the sudden retirement of former captain Preston Mommsen in November, Scotland enter this event with one of the most settled squads in this tournament. Kyle Coetzer has taken over the leadership once again after relinquishing the job to Mommsen in 2014 and remains an explosive presence at the top of the order. Calum MacLeod produced two centuries in his last three ODI innings for Scotland at home against UAE and Hong Kong and has a great opportunity to continue that form in T20 cricket.On the bowling side, Scotland has a young pace attack that may be tested in desert conditions. However, the glue holding the side together with the ball is Con de Lange. The left-arm spinner was a ripe 34-year-old when making his debut for the national side in June 2015 after migrating from South Africa, and in the 18 months since then has rapidly turned into one of Scotland’s most consistent contributors, marked by his elevation to the vice-captaincy in the wake of Mommsen’s departure. He’ll need good support though, from fellow left-arm spinner Mark Watt, in order to tie down some explosive batting lineups in Group B.OmanThough they are officially the lowest-ranked side in this half of the draw, Oman will not be taken lightly after making waves in the cricket world over the past year and a half by not only qualifying for the World T20 in India, but then defeating Ireland in their tournament debut. Despite not having played any T20Is since leaving Dharamsala, they have actually been one of the busiest Associate sides in world cricket, playing a total of 16 one-dayers as part of their consecutive promotions at World Cricket League Division Five in May and Division Four in November.Coach Duleep Mendis has never been afraid to tinker with the side in the search for winning combinations and as a result a slew of changes have taken place for the squad arriving in the UAE. The biggest ones are the omissions of batsman Jatinder Singh and slingy medium-pacer Munis Ansari, who each paid for sub-par performances at Division Four in Los Angeles, while the side may be galvanized by the return of wicketkeeper-captain Sultan Ahmed. The 39-year-old’s career appeared finished after he was axed following the World T20, but he has been given a surprise recall in a bid to boost Oman’s chances of reaching the semis.

Priyank Kirit Panchal hit 32 fours in his unbeaten 460-ball 314, propelling Gujarat to 624 for 6 declared against Punjab in Belagavi. The 26-year-old opener is in a rich vein of form, having scored 232 and 56* against Mumbai around a week earlier.Resuming on 281 for 2 on the second morning, Gujarat lost Rujul Bhatt for 60 early. But Panchal received good support from captain Axar Patel and Rush Kalaria as Gujarat piled on the runs at a good pace before their declaration. RP Singh then dismissed Jiwanjot Singh early, before Punjab closed on 20 for 1.Bengal clawed back to regain lost ground against Mumbai on day two in Nagpur, courtesy a good all-round showing. Having fought to restrict the first-innings deficit to 130, Bengal moved to 198 for 3 with Sudip Chatterjee (67*) and captain Manoj Tiwary (85*) sharing an unbroken 142-run fourth-wicket stand.Earlier, Ashok Dinda had taken four of the last five Mumbai wickets to register his 22nd first-class five-wicket haul and bowl Mumbai out for 229, from an overnight score of 164 for 5.Imtiaz Ahmed’s 5 for 34 triggered Railways‘ collapse from 147 for 2 to 213 all out, giving Uttar Pradesh a 46-run first-innings lead in Rajkot.Railways, who began the day on 18 for 1, benefitted from a 124-run third-wicket partnership between Saurabh Wakaskar (74) and Arindam Ghosh (58). But Ahmed bowled Ghosh to break that partnership and then rattled through Railways’ lower order, with the help of Kuldeep Yadav and Ankit Rajpoot. Uttar Pradesh scored 64 for 2 by stumps.In Dharamsala, Madhya Pradesh relied on early wickets to claim a 53-run first-innings lead over Baroda. New-ball bowlers Ishwar Pandey and Puneet Datey reduced Baroda to 45 for 5, before Deepak Hooda and Irfan Pathan put up some resistance. But Pandey took three lower-order wickets to finish with 5 for 29 and bowl out Baroda for 164.Madhya Pradesh then scored 126 for 5 by the close of play, Naman Ojha top-scoring with 57.

Snehal Kauthankar’s second first-class century – and maiden double ton – helped Goa recover from 190 for 6 to 413 against Haryana at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Ghaziabad. Goa had started the day on 197 for 6 with Kauthankar on 80 and Shadab Jakati on 4. The two stretched their seventh-wicket stand to 64 with Jakati contributing 28. After Jakati’s dismissal with Goa on 254 for 7, Reagan Pinto, who had retired hurt on 25 on the opening day, returned and helped add 73 for the eighth wicket with Kauthankar. Pinto struck 58 before he became left-arm spinner Ashok Sandhu’s fourth first-class victim. Amulaya Pandrekar, Goa’s No. 11, spent over an hour at the crease and batted out 40 balls to help add 67 more for the last wicket with Kauthankar. Pandrekar contributed just 5. Kauthankar was the last man dismissed, for 225 off 374 balls, which contained 30 fours and four sixes. Harshal Patel and Amit Mishra did the bulk of the damage, taking four wickets each.Haryana made a strong start to their reply, with Nitin Saini, not out on 76, taking them to 110 for no loss in the company of Shubham Rohilla, who was unbeaten on 32. Haryana ended the day trailing by 303.Kerala‘s bowlers fought back after their team was bowled out for 219 by Andhra in Guwahati. Left-arm spinner Iqbal Abdulla and offspinner Rohan Prem, along with Basil Thampi, the right-arm medium pacer, took two wickets each to leave Andhra 173 for 6 at stumps.The day had begun with Kerala 188 for 8 in their first innings. KS Monish (14) – resuming on 4 – and Thampi (15) used up 76 balls between them and took them to 219. Left-arm spinner Bhargav Bhatt dismissed both batsmen. DP Vijaykumar, who had taken a six-for on the opening day, ended with 6 for 47, his best innings returns.Andhra began solidly with Srikar Bharat and Prasanth Kumar both hitting half-centuries and putting on 81 for the first wicket. Abdulla broke through, having Bharat caught behind for 54. He followed it up with the scalp of Andhra captain Hanuma Vihari for 3. Prasanth stuck on to add 63 more with Ricky Bhui for the third wicket before being stumped off Prem. That dismissal began a procession with Andhra sliding from 152 for 2 to 170 for 6. Bhui stayed not out on 47. Andhra trail by 46 runs.In Surat, Rishi Dhawan’s five-wicket haul triggered a collapse as Services, resuming on 276 for 3, were bowled out for 401 by Himachal Pradesh. Services lost Nakul Verma, the overnight centurion, for 117 when he was bowled by Dhawan in the third over of the day. From there, Services lost two more quick wickets to slip to 288 for 6. That they got to 401 was courtesy Vikas Hathwala, who struck 69 and added 42 for the seventh wicket with Muzzaffaruddin Khalid (18) and 56 for the final wicket with Raj Bahadur (11 not out). Dhawan finished with 5 for 82.In response, Himachal ended the day 182 for 4. Paras Dogra top-scored with 70, while Prashant Chopra (47) and Ankit Kalsi (23) got off to starts, but none of them could convert into a big score. Robin Bist was unbeaten on 34 at stumps and had Mayank Dagar (3 not out) for company.At the Sardar Vallabhai Patel Stadium in Valsad, Hyderabad lost six wickets for 84 runs to get bowled out for 351 by Chhattisgarh. Hyderabad began the day on 267 for 4 with BP Sandeep not out on 73 and Mehdi Hassan giving him company on 10. Hassan was caught and bowled by right-arm medium pacer Pankaj Rao, while Sandeep missed his century by four runs, becoming the eighth man dismissed, to the right-arm medium pace of Abhishek Tamrakar. Rao, playing his sixth first-class match, took his second five-wicket haul, ending with 5 for 89.Chhattisgarh responded strongly, with their openers Sahil Gupta and Abhimanyu Chauhan notching up identical scores of 55. Gupta was trapped lbw by right-arm pacer Mohammed Siraj, before Chauhan took Chhattisgarh to 124 for 1 along with Sumit Ruikar. Chhattisgarh are behind by 227 runs.At the Bandra-Kurla Complex in Mumbai, Jammu & Kashmir‘s bowlers reduced Tripura to 193 for 6 after they were bowled out for 315. J&K resumed on 270 for 6 with Aditya Singh on 65 and Samiullah Beigh on 35. Aditya added just nine to his overnight tally before being caught behind off Rajib Dutta, while Beigh raised a half-century and was the eighth man out, for 54. Tripura’s new-ball pair of Manisankar Murasingh (4 for 75) and Dutta (3 for 74) took seven wickets between them. Ajoy Sarkar took two wickets and Gurinder Singh had one wicket.Like Tripura, J&K’s bowlers hunted in a pack with each of the five bowlers they used making an entry into the wickets column. Opener Bishal Ghosh struck an unbeaten 86, but Tripura were hurt by the inability of several of their batsmen to convert their starts.

Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq will miss the second Test in Hamilton, as he returns to Pakistan following the death of his father-in-law. Batsman Azhar Ali will lead the side in Misbah’ absence, the Pakistan Cricket Board has announced.Misbah and his family, who were also in Christchurch, had received news of his father-in-law being admitted to intensive care early on Sunday morning. They will make the trip back to Pakistan together. Misbah had only briefly taken the field during New Zealand’s chase, and is scheduled to leave the country on Sunday evening.His departure is a significant blow to Pakistan. Apart from having led the team in 50 Tests, Misbah has been a middle-order rock, never averaging less than 40 across the six most recent calendar years.”Misbah’s been exceptional throughout the years and we’ll miss him definitely,” Azhar said following the loss in the first Test at Hagley Oval. “We have to cope with that now and whoever comes into the side will take that opportunity and give us runs, as well as the stability he gives us in the middle.”No replacement has yet been named to the squad, but Misbah’s place in the XI is likely to be filled by either Mohammad Rizwan or Sharjeel Khan, who are the extra batsmen with the squad in New Zealand.Misbah had previously missed only one Test since he was appointed captain in 2010: he was unavailable for a 2012 Test in Galle, due to a suspension for slow over-rates. He had made scores of 31 and 13 in the Christchurch Test.

Allrounder Shakib Al Hasan, representing Dhaka Dynamites, will be the highest paid local player in this year’s Bangladesh Premier League. He is among seven players in the A-plus category, which includes top Bangladesh cricketers.Shakib is set to receive at least Tk 55 lakh (approx. $68,750), the cap set for his payment. Mushfiqur Rahim, Tamim Iqbal, Mashrafe Mortaza and Mahmudullah will get at least Tk 50 lakh each from Barisal Bulls, Chittagong Vikings, Comilla Victorians and Khulna Titans respectively. Sabbir Rahman and Soumya Sarkar are also among the A-category players but will get Tk 40 lakh each from Rajshahi.According to the BPL governing council’s secretary Ismail Haider Mallick, these players had made an official request to the board to choose their teams and have their salary cap raised to match the BPL foreign players’ cap.”These senior players had a prayer to us, to match what foreign players will get in this tournament,” Mallick said. “In other franchise-based domestic tournaments, foreign players get the same amount as local players.”They also asked to choose their own team, which they said would enable to earn a little more money than the cap given by the BPL governing council. The board however won’t take responsibility of the extra payment that they get from the franchise. They will only be responsible for the amount that we have put as cap.”Mallick said that Shakib’s higher payment than the other six in the same category is because of his experience having played in various T20 leagues around the world. He added that the BPL governing council had to keep seven players in the same category to distribute them evenly between the teams.”The pricing is merit-based. Shakib is the only Bangladeshi player who plays in the franchise-based T20 leagues around the world. His pricing has to be higher than the others. We have decided after discussing with the selectors. Shakib and Soumya Sarkar won’t get the same rate. Shakib and the rest of the senior players have little difference between them in terms of the money,” Mallick said.The tournament is scheduled to begin on November 4.

India coach Anil Kumble has high praise for fast bowler Mohammed Shami, who has returned to Test cricket last month after a gap of a year and a half. Shami has troubled the West Indies batsmen with extra bounce, and has eight wickets at 24.62 after two Tests.Shami had been sidelined for much of 2015 by a knee injury that required surgery and left him in crutches for more than a month. He made his comeback in the Antigua Test last month, and responded by cutting through the West Indies middle order in the first innings. In the next Test at Sabina Park, he struck twice early on the fourth day before the rain arrived and stalled India’s hunt for a win.”I’m really happy for Shami. Coming back after 18 months is not easy,” Kumble said. “The way he has come back and bowled aggressively, yesterday I thought he bowled the best spell that I have seen, a fast bowler running in and right through the Test. Even today in the last session he was running and bowling at 140. That says a lot about his fitness and his motivation to come back as well.”After his return to full fitness, Shami was a key member of the Indian Test side, Kumble said. “I think he feels a lot stronger now and his rhythm has been good. The problem was with his knee which was affecting his run up. Once that was sorted and he was fit and came back… fast bowling is all about rhythm and the run up. Once he got the rhythm I think the confidence came back. We’ve seen from the start of the Antigua Test to now, his confidence is far greater. That’s because he has a lot of overs under his belt.”With Shami having played two Tests in two weeks, Kumble noted the need to monitor the workload of a quick bowler on the comeback trail. “He’s an important cog for us. We don’t want to look too far ahead. The workload is something we are aware of. The last Test in Antigua the bowlers bowled back to back, we try and take workload in training sessions with respect to what happened in the match.”

Cricket can be a cruel game. Only a few months after becoming one of the ten fastest men in history to 1,000 Test runs, Gary Ballance found himself unable to gain entrance to the pavilion at Lord’s.While the incident was soon resolved – team security staff assured the steward that the man waiting on the pavilion steps in full England kit was, indeed, a member of the team involved in the Test against New Zealand at the time – it provided a decent metaphor for the state of his career: from a position where he had scored four centuries in his first nine Tests, including one in each of his first two on this ground, Ballance’s form had deteriorated to the extent that two innings in the New Zealand Test brought him one run in total and he had become an unknown even at the home of cricket. A few weeks later he was dropped.

Balance shrugs off groin issue

Gary Ballance has confirmed he is fit and ready to take on Pakistan in the first Investec Test at Lord’s on Thursday, after overcoming a minor groin injury that caused him to miss Yorkshire’s NatWest T20 Blast fixture against Derbyshire on Sunday.
“It was just a precaution with Yorkshire having so much cricket in the last few months,” Ballance told ESPNcricinfo. “I thought it best to rest it up with a Test coming up now. But I’m absolutely fine now, I’m ready to go.”
“I didn’t expect the phone call, it was a bit of a surprise, but the motivation was there and I was so happy to be back in the squad and get another opportunity,” he said. “I’m over the moon to be back in the squad and back here at Lord’s. I can’t wait to get started.”

Ballance has admitted previously that, in the months that followed, he was “struggling mentally” with the setback. Stung by criticism of his technique, he concedes now that the experience left him “questioning my ability for a while”.It is not hard to understand why. Until the start of the English summer of 2015, Ballance had enjoyed a fantastic start to his career. He averaged more than 60 in Test cricket and more than 50 in first-class. It seemed he had the technique and temperament for a long career at this level.But then, faced with two excellent seam attacks from New Zealand and Australia, his career stuttered. While he contributed a vital 61 in the opening Test of the 2015 Investec Ashes at Cardiff, it was his only half-century in 10 innings. His method, playing unusually deep in the crease, attracted criticism and appeared to leave him vulnerable against the full, moving delivery.At first, in the weeks following his axing from the side, he experimented with an adapted technique. But it never felt comfortable or brought the desire results. So he reasoned that he would revert to the method that had served him so well previously.Whether that decision was wise or weak depends on who you ask. Some suggest Ballance has been stubborn in refusing to acknowledge the faults that betrayed him previously; others suggest it takes courage to stick to your own method in a system that has, at times in recent years, appeared a bit one-size-fits-all.He feels there is a middle path: it’s not so much that his technique required changing; it was more that it required better execution. He looks certain to play here. After sustaining a minor groin strain that obliged him to sit out a T20 game at the weekend, he trained on Tuesday and declared himself fully fit. He will bat at No. 5, below James Vince and above Jonny Bairstow.”I changed a bit and I stopped scoring runs,” Ballance says now. “There’s so much outside pressure, so much scrutiny when you’re not going well, that you feel forced to change. You go away from what you’re actually good at. You try different things in the nets and then you think: I’ll become a worse player if I do this.”So then I tried to go back to how I had played when I scored runs and how I did and what’s best for me. I knew I needed to work on a few things and tinker with a few things, but at the end of the day I’m trying to do what’s best for me and what’s the best way of scoring runs.”I know the way I play is not perfect, but hopefully it gets me runs. I feel as long as I’m balanced at the crease, my head’s still and I move early enough, that’s the most important thing. You have to do what you think is best for yourself. And if it’s not good enough, so be it.”It is not the first time Ballance has been faced with adversity. Half-a-dozen years ago, he underwent emergency surgery to remove his appendix.There’s nothing unusual about that, of course. Except that six years before that, he had already had his appendix removed. But the symptoms reoccurred and, after 10 doctors failed to diagnose his stump appendicitis – a condition so rare that it is believed to occur in fewer than one in 50,000 appendectomy cases – Ballance’s condition had deteriorated so far that his life was jeopardy.”The odds weren’t good,” he says. “I was in hospital over a month and I’m lucky I came out of it alright.”But it could have been a lot worse. I mean, it was winter, so I didn’t miss much cricket.”That last phrase tells you a great deal about Ballance. It tells you how cricket has defined his life. While he went to university briefly – “I went to five lectures,” he says, “and thought about playing cricket all the time I was in them” – he was always going to be a cricketer and, having made his List A debut for Derbyshire aged 16, he made his first-class debut for Yorkshire aged 18. By the time he was 25, he had scored 1,000 Test runs in fewer innings than any England player other than Herbert Sutcliffe or Len Hutton.So, what can we expect from him in his second coming as a Test player?He will look very similar. He will still play unusually deep in his crease. He will still be strong on the cut and tend to duck the short ball. But he will, he says, be better balanced at the crease and more positive in his mental outlook.”Last year, I was playing and moving a bit too late,” he says. “So my weight was back when I was moving. Over the last six months, I’ve tried to move early enough so that, at the point of delivery, I’m absolutely still, my head is balanced and I’m in a neutral position. Every batter will tell you that if you’ve a still head and you’re balanced, that is the foundation.”And hopefully I can enjoy it a bit more this time. At times last year, I was so uptight and found the pressure massive. I maybe didn’t enjoy my success as much as I should have.”But this time round, hopefully I can just relax a bit more and just enjoy it. I’m going to appreciate it that bit more. And if it doesn’t go well, I’ll be more ‘so be it.'”Investec is the title sponsor of Test match cricket in England. For more on Investec private banking, visit investec.co.uk/banking

ScorecardLiam Norwell narrowly fails to run out Steve Eskinazi•Getty Images

Benny Howell took his wicket tally in the NatWest T20 Blast South Group to 23 as Gloucestershire made sure of finishing top with a four-wicket victory over Middlesex at Bristol.The competition’s leading wicket-taker claimed 3 for 18 from his four overs to help restrict the visitors to 156 for 5 after winning the toss. John Simpson top scored with 40 not out, while spinners Tom Smith and Graeme van Buuren both bowled tightly.In reply, Gloucestershire reached 162 for 6 with three balls to spare, Jack Taylor seeing them home with an explosive 44 off 23 balls, including 4 sixes, after Ian Cockbain had contributed 42.Some of the edge was taken off the game by the fact that both sides were already sure of quarter-final places, in Gloucestershire’s case with home advantage. But it still produced a thrilling finish.

Gloucs look to Grieshaber

Gloucestershire skipper Michael Klinger admitted Gl;oucestershire are short on wicketkeeping cover after they drew Durham in the last eight.
“Durham creates a problem for us in terms of a wicketkeeper because Gareth Roderick and Chris Dent are injured and we won’t be able to play Phil Mustard, who is on loan to us from our quarter-final opponents.
“It is something we will overcome. Young Pat Grieshaber did well for us behind the stumps in our Royal London Cup win over Sussex at Cheltenham and showed he can bat as well in that game.”

Middlesex made a promising start to their innings as Nick Gubbins and Stevie Eskinazi scored 52 off the first five overs before Gubbins, on 29, having hit 3 sixes, skied a catch to on-loan wicketkeeper Phil Mustard off Andrew Tye.James Franklin fell cheaply against his old club, stumped in Howell’s first over. But it was the all-rounder’s second over that proved most damaging as he had Eskinazi caught at short third-man for 29 and George Bailey lbw for one three balls later.The Middlesex innings got bogged down against Howell, typically effective with his pace-off-the-ball seamers, and the two Gloucestershire spinners, who shared seven overs at a cost of just 36 runs.Simpson and Ryan Higgins did their best to pick up the pace in the closing overs, while Toby Roland-Jones hit a four and a six off the last, sent down by Tye. But the Middlesex score still looked below par.Gloucestershire made a brisk start in reply, Michael Klinger and Hamish Marshall taking the score to 31 in the third over before Marshall, on 16, was run out attempting a second to third-man and failing to beat Roland-Jones’ throw to the keeper.That brought together two of the leading run-makers in the competition, Klinger and Cockbain, who soon overtook his skipper. An out-of-sorts Klinger was dropped on ten by Nathan Sowter at deep cover off Harris before falling for 13, caught trying to reverse sweep the relieved Sowter.Mustard was quickly bowled by Franklin and when Roland-Jones struck twice in the 15th over, having Cockbain caught at cover and bowling Howell as he advanced down the track, Gloucestershire looked to be in trouble at 101 for five.Taylor hit the first six of the innings as 14 came off the 17th over, bowled by Harris, and van Buuren followed up with a maximum off Ollie Rayner before falling next ball.With 24 needed from the last two overs, Taylor blasted successive sixes off Roland-Jones and nine were required as Steve Finn prepared to bowl the last six deliveries.The first was a no-balled bouncer costing two extras. Taylor missed the next one and smacked the next to mid-wicket where the diving Sowter failed to gather and let the ball slip through for a boundary.The scores were level when Finn was no-balled again for a bouncer and Taylor cut the next delivery for six over cover to end the game.