COLOUR BLIND BALLANCE IN THE PINK
YORKSHIRE captain Gary Ballance will feature in the County Championship’s historic round of floodlit matches later this month after having specialist glasses made. Ballance, 27, was a doubt for the match against Surrey at Headingley from June 29- July 2 because being colour blind makes it difficult for him to pick out the pink ball. Although batting was a concern, the greater issue has been seeing the ball when fielding. But Leeds optician Simon Falk is providing bespoke lenses to help improve his red/green deficiency and enhance the contrast of the pink against certain backgrounds. Ballance said: ‘I don’t know if I will be able to bat in them but I will be able to play the game. I have had some practice with the pink ball and this time around it’s got a darker seam so it’s actually easier to see. ‘It was a concern but when I had a bat the other day it was better than I thought.’ With England playing three day-night Tests in the next nine months — including one in the 2017-18 Ashes — the left-hander will want to push for an international recall by building on his 727 Championship runs at an average of 103.85 this summer.