ESPNCRICINFO reports that Gary Ballance has retired from all cricket - does anybody know details, what happened ?

[secretzimbo]

Apparently there was talk of this at the T10 launch the other night

‘Homesick for the U.K.’ is the reason supposedly.

I’m still sure there may be more to it though. He had talked of mental health problems over the last couple of years after the job Rafiq did on him so maybe there’s deeper stuff. Hope he’s okay.


Incredibly disappointing and a gigantic blow for our Qualifying chances.

It’s a shame because overall the mood music around our cricket remains overwhelmingly positive at the moment.

There's rumours about some drug related issue and that apparently he had already been caught earlier and disciplined for it. Any truth to those rumours do you think?

Pretty sure that’s just people putting 2+2 together and getting 5 at this point, based on the article ZC put that they had suspended two ‘anonymous’ players for drugs last month. The two players were young, and not internationals, and the suspension was brief. That wasn’t Ballance or anyone significant.

I mean it could be a similar issue but I haven’t heard any credible rumours about that sort of thing yet so wouldn’t want to speculate.

ZC has long turned a blind eye to out-of-competition drug use. They wouldn’t risk losing their best, most expensive, player over drugs, unless he had been done by an in-competition test and sanctioned by the ICC

[ZIMDOGGY]

Nick Welch has just seen his stocks shoot up massively

[Googly]

Ya I don't think we get too many ICC sanctioned surprise drug tests here. Pass rate would be about the same as O levels.

[AussieZimFan]

Couldn't wait another 3 months to come to this decision. Something ain't right

[sloandog]

Nick Welch has just seen his stocks shoot up massively

I was thinking this..

[sloandog]

Shame about Ballance. I was loving seeing him in a Zimbabwe Jersey.

[Jemisi]

I don't want to speculate.

I am pretty shocked.

I waited till he was playing before getting too excited about his return. Almost as bad as when Neil Johnson walked away.

[TapsC2]

Nick Welch has just seen his stocks shoot up massively

I was thinking this..

Yup. I also don't see Craig and Sean sticking around much longer. I think they have set targets in their heads. A failure in the qualifiers and we could need 3 new batsmen by August

[secretzimbo]

Oh absolutely. It’s a certainty that Craig and Sean retire before the end of this calendar year.

Raza won’t be around forever either. Probably two years max.

[jontym87]

Another BT saga loading…..

Hint: Endocrine gland kana ravhura ravhura stress coping at international level inozonetsa