Ballance to skipper Yorkshire

posted by John Winn

Yesterday's announcement that Gary Ballance will next season skipper Yorkshire in all formats seems to have been met with approval. Naturally Gale and Moxon are fully supportive and Ballance himself expressed his delight and the honour he felt at being named as Club Captain. It is always interesting on these occasions to check how the man on the Headingley omnibus feels about the announcement and here too the appointment seems to have been welcomed although nobody appears to be in raptures. 'Sound choice and the right one', 'the natural choice', 'good choice' are typical responses and even the removal of Alex Lees from any captaincy duties is given a positive spin both by the coaching staff and supporters in that it will allow the Halifax man to 'rediscover his batting touch'.

Ballance by his own admission is not 'a massive speaker' but 'I will be looking to lead by example and get the lads to follow me'. Fine words butter no parsnips of course but he is a very experienced cricketer, 21 test caps, and Andrew Gale recalls how well Gary did in leading the side against Notts at Scarborough. Proof of the pudding and all that and the new skipper will come under close scrutiny when, 16 weeks today, he leads his side against Hampshire in the opening championship match of the season at Headingley.

Elsewhere I received a text from our Golcar correspondent yesterday to the effect that at a meeting on Wednesday six clubs from the Huddersfield Central League were accepted into the Drakes League leaving Augustinians as the 'only club in limbo'.

April 22nd has emerged as the day when most cricket leagues will open for business in 2017 and joining the list recently has been Yorkshire Premier League North. The two promoted clubs begin with home matches, Clifton Alliance will entertain Scarborough and Easingwold have the attraction of Yorkshire Academy as visitors to Back Lane. Match of the day here might be Sheriff Hutton Bridge v 2016 champions Harrogate.