Gary Ballance: Yorkshire batter to miss start of season to focus on mental health

Yorkshire batter Gary Ballance will miss the start of the season to focus on his mental health, interim managing director of cricket Darren Gough says.

Ballance, 32, told an independent enquiry last year that he was responsible for some of the offensive terms Azeem Rafiq was subjected to during his time at Headingley.

Ballance also had time out of the game in 2020 because of anxiety and stress.

"It's a very difficult time for him," Gough said.

"The best thing I can ask as managing director of cricket is people give him that space and privacy.

"We will support him in any way possible to hopefully, sometime this season, represent Yorkshire again. He needs time away from the game at this moment in time and I'm here to support him."

Ballance, who played 23 Test matches for England, said Rafiq was his "best mate in cricket" and that he "cared deeply for him", adding that "on the pitch we supported each other greatly".

On Thursday, Yorkshire's members approved structural reforms at an extraordinary general meeting that mean Headingley will be able to stage international matches again.

The ECB suspended the club's right to stage England games over its handling of the Rafiq racism scandal.

"It was a relief that happened and now we can move forward," Gough said.

"It's about accepting what's happened in the past, never forgetting it and making sure something like that doesn't happen again.

"It's about making this club something the whole country and the whole world can be proud of and make it inclusive to everyone.

"What I've seen so far in the three months I've been here is a club that's working its socks off to be the best it can be. I'm immensely proud to be part of that."

Yorkshire could still be punished - potentially with a points deduction - as the England and Wales Cricket Board's regulatory investigation into Rafiq's allegations remains ongoing.