He’s far from elegant, but Ballance has true grit...

That was a gutsy innings from Gary Ballance. after everything that’s been said about his technique, and given the pressure of the opening day of the ashes, to score 61 and help drag England out of trouble told us a lot about his temperament.

Offer me technical brilliance or mental toughness in a test cricketer and I’ll take mental toughness every time. that’s more than half the battle at this level. I’ve seen plenty of technically gifted players fail to make the grade.

No one can accuse Ballance of cutting an elegant figure at the crease, but a test average of 52 says that doesn’t matter a jot.

and when Mitchell Johnson steamed in mid-afternoon, going round the wicket and peppering him with short stuff, Ballance stood his ground. after what happened in australia in 2013-14, it was vital that England withstood the first few barrages Johnson hurled at them. and it was Ballance who did the job.

With someone like Ballance, who doesn’t necessarily look the best, it can be important not to interfere too much with his game and let him get on with it. But he has obviously been working on a slight technical flaw that had been exposed by New Zealand’s left-arm seamer trent Boult.

Ballance (below) was trying to pick his bat up a bit more to help him transfer his weight slightly further forward than against New Zealand, when it looked as if he was playing French cricket — putting his bat there and waiting for the ball to hit it.

I still don’t think he’s picking his bat up as much as he did against India last summer and he’s still quite deep in his crease. his dismissal — trapped in front by a full-length ball from Josh hazlewood — was a reminder of that. But that extra backlift just gave him a bit more weight behind his strokes.

I do wonder, though, how closely he’s watching those full deliveries. When he fell to hazlewood, he still seemed to be looking down the pitch, not watching the ball all the way on to his bat, with his head right over it.

and there may be a slight blind spot when Johnson went round the wicket and hit him a couple of times. he seems to be closed off against the short ball. But these are technical points that every player has. the main thing is that Ballance has the mental resolve to make a go of it at test level, and his confidence seemed to grow the longer he batted with the outstanding Joe Root. On a quicker pitch, he’ll have to watch out.

Someone like Ian Bell, by contrast, has to find a way of making ugly runs. he’s in the slump of his life right now and he’s just got to gets the runs which will bring him time in the middle and more confidence.

Because, let’s be honest, this wasn’t an australian attack right on top of their game. hazlewood wasn’t bad, particularly for a youngster on his ashes debut, and Nathan Lyon’s ability to nail his length right from the start was impressive. But Mitchell Johnson looked short of a gallop and Mitchell Starc got better, especially against the lefthanders, as the day progressed. In fairness to Johnson, he was nullified by the surface, though I don’t subscribe to the theory that England made sure the track was slow and low.

I believe England are happy for the pitches this summer to have a bit of nibble. that brings their seamers into the game, while their batsmen are more comfortable in those conditions than the australians.