Former England batsman Gary Ballance to retire from cricket with immediate effect

Former England and Yorkshire batsman Gary Ballance announced his retirement aged 33 after falling in love with cricket.

Harare-born Ballance, who played 23 Tests and 16 ODIs for England between 2013 and 2017, recently tried to resurrect his international career in his native Zimbabwe, having left Yorkshire in December after being involved in the Azeem Rafiq racism scandal.

In January, Ballance pleaded guilty to five charges brought against him by the Cricket Disciplinary Committee, including using racist language, and apologized unreservedly to Rafiq.

Soon after, he played a T20 and the first of five ODIs in Zimbabwe, and in February he returned to Test cricket with an unbeaten 137 as Zimbabwe drew with the West Indies in Bulawayo, only to miss the second and final match of the series due to a migraine. Now he has completely called it a day.

I had hoped that my move to Zimbabwe would offer me new luck in the game he said.

Former England batsman Gary Ballance (pictured) has retired from cricket with immediate effect

The news comes just three months after he resumed his international career with Zimbabwe

Ballance, 33, left Yorkshire last year amid damaging allegations in the club’s racism scandal.

However, I have reached a stage where I no longer have the desire to dedicate myself to the rigors of professional sport and this would be a disservice to Zimbabwean cricket and the game itself.

I have been lucky enough to have some incredibly memorable moments in cricket, winning the County Championship with Yorkshire and achieving the ultimate honor of representing England and Zimbabwe. It is now time for me to move on to the next chapter of my life.

Ballance’s century in Bulawayo was followed by four England victories, the best being 156 against India in Southampton in 2014.

In all, he scored over 12,000 first-class runs at an impressive average of 47 and 42 hundreds.