Had Gary Ballance played a little longer, he would have scored a unique hundred. When he was given out caught behind, 90 of his 156 runs were scored behind the square. In a country where coaches keep reminding youngsters about the importance of taking the big stride forward and successful professional cricketers stand way outside the crease to counter the swing, Balllance’s ‘back-foot’ play stands out, less for its novelty and more for its effectiveness. His unconventional batting approach has seen him score three tons from five Tests, the last at Rose Bowl helping England bounce back in the series.

Raised on a sprawling farm outside Harare, the 24-year-old moved to England for cricket and education. He stuck to the lessons he learnt while swinging his bat on his 2,000-acre garden. Ballance, former Zimbabwe captain Dave Houghton is his uncle, loves to wait for the ball, guide it to gully, tuck it down to the fine leg, cut fiercely and or pull it with all his might. Though, it is his selection of strokes, depending on the situation, that sets him apart from the other batsmen in the England dressing room.

To start with, he takes guard giving the bowler full view of the stumps. This is followed by a back-and-across trigger movement. After that he takes the call of going forward or staying back. For most of the day, he sat back, and the slowness of the pitch gave him extra time to choose the stroke that was apt for the situation.

There were three Ballance shots that marked him out as a true blue ‘back foot’ player. The first came off a Bhuvneshwar Kumar ball that was full in length and swung slightly towards the left-hander’s off stump. Ballance read the line, let the ball come to him and at the very last minute forced it to fine leg. His wrists getting extra strain as the ball was manoeuvred from the off stump.

Growing in confidence

It was a stroke that showed the confidence of the batsman who averages 54 since January, when he made his Test debut. This was followed by a flick to mid-wicket off Pankaj Singh. The ball was full, Ballance, going back and across, sent the ball flying over the in-field. This shot had less finesse and eye-pleasing.

The third stroke was against left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja, who was bowling to a 7-2 field and a strong cordon of fielders square to the wicket. Jadeja bowled flat and repeatedly angled the ball into him. Dhoni wanted to stop the flow of runs. But Ballance spoiled the plan by managing to find the slim gap on the square as leg-slip, leg-gully and square stood there appreciating the shot.