Gary Ballance of Yorkshire hits out during the Specsavers County Championship: Division One match between Hampshire and Yorkshire at Ageas Bowl on September 2, 2016 in Southampton, England. (Photo by Ben Hoskins/Getty Images)
Former English player Gary Ballance has retired from all forms of cricket after representing Zimbabwe recently.
Ballance re-launched his career for a brief period of time with his home country, Zimbabwe, featuring in eight international games between January and March.
The 33-year-old featured in 23 tests for England between 2014 and 2017, scoring four test centuries in the duration.
At the conclusion of the 2022 season, Yorkshire released him from his contract after several months of unpaid leave for mental health reasons.
The most memorable innings in his career was recently during a one-off Test match against the West Indies in Bulawayo, making 137 not out.
After Kepler Wessels, the former Australia batter and South Africa captain, he became just the second Test cricketer to score a century for two countries.
However, Ballance has now decided to end his resurrected career after concluding with an unbeaten 64 to win the ODI series against the Netherlands last month.
"After much thought, I have decided to retire from all forms of professional cricket with immediate effect," he said in a statement.
"I had hoped my move to Zimbabwe would provide me with a new-found happiness for the game and I will always be thankful to Zimbabwe Cricket for providing me with an opportunity to return to international cricket and welcoming me into their team."
"However, I have reached the stage where I no longer have the desire to dedicate myself to the rigours of professional sport and this would do Zimbabwe Cricket and the game itself a disservice, should I carry on. I wish them every success going forward."
"I have been fortunate to have some incredibly memorable moments in cricket, winning County Championships with Yorkshire and gaining the ultimate honour of representing England and Zimbabwe. I want to thank all of my clubs, coaches, support staff, teammates and supporters for their guidance and encouragement over my career, it has been a privilege."
"It is now time for me to move on to the next chapter of my life. I will be making no further comments on my decision at this time."
In his 24 Test matches, he scored a total of 1653 runs at 40.31, and in his 12031 first-class runs, he scored 47.74, including 42 hundreds and eight more in List A cricket.
