Andrew Gale says Gary Ballance has already put his England disappointment behind him and is desperate to contribute to a successful summer with Yorkshire.
The White Rose coach admits he was confused by his captain’s omission from England’s Test squad to tour New Zealand in late March.
England lost the Ashes 4-0, struggling to post big totals with the bat. But, instead of making changes from the side which took the field, the selectors opted to omit Ballance, who only played two warm-up matches on tour and scored 51 and 45 not out.
Still, Gale is backing the 28-year-old to catch the selectors eye once more, even if he accepts it will be a tough challenge for the left-hander, who scored 951 runs from 12 Championship matches last year.
“It seemed bizarre that two blokes who haven’t really taken part in the failings of England (Ballance and Tom Curran) were the ones who got the bullet. I saw that as quite harsh to leave Gary out of New Zealand,” admitted Gale.
“He earned his place to get back into that squad and wasn’t given a sniff.
“The schedule of the (Ashes) tour went against him. He hardly had a bat and was carrying drinks for six or seven weeks or whatever it was.
“I expected him to go to New Zealand and at some stage get an opportunity so that everybody would know where we stand with him.
