Bayliss lauds Ballance’s mental toughness
ENGLAND coach Trevor Bayliss expects Yorkshire captain Gary Ballance’s name to figure “heavily” during today’s selection meeting ahead of next week’s first Investec Test against South Africa.
Bayliss names his squad tomorrow morning for the series opener at Lord’s while contending with a number of injury concerns in his bowling attack, James Anderson (groin) and Stuart Broad (bruised left heel) among them.
In terms of batting, among the decisions to be made is whether to give Ballance another chance at Test cricket on the strength of his fine form for Yorkshire this season.
“It’s great to see him scoring runs and I’m sure he’ll be spoken about at (this morning’s) selection meeting quite heavily,” Bayliss said.
“The one thing that Gary has always had in his favour is that he is mentally tough.
“That’s the reason why he is able to come back from being dropped a couple of times and why he’s been able to score a lot of runs for Yorkshire this year.
“There’s no reason why someone like that can’t come back and a make a success of international cricket.
“At some point the selection panel will have to make a decision on whether it’s time to look at someone new. I’m sure that will be a discussion point.”
He added: “In the two years I’ve been here it will be the toughest selection meeting that I’ve had. It’s a good problem to have when you’re struggling to know which guys to put in.
“It will depend what happens at the top and where we decide to bat Jonny Bairstow. There are a few possibilities.
“Someone like Mark Stoneman has been doing well at the level below. Does Joe Root go back to three and we put an extra middle order player in?
“Where does Jonny Bairstow bat? This is all up for discussion and we’ll come up with an answer.”
The chief cause of anxiety in the batting line-up is the collapse in form endured by opener Haseeb Hameed, who has failed to reach a half-century since returning from a successful winter in India.