He is a left-handed batsman and a leg break bowler, who last played for Yorkshire County Cricket Club.

His next 13 matches yielded two half-centuries and an aggregate of 481 runs at an average of 19.04, a sharp contrast to his first set of 10 test appearances.

[5] Ballance first played in the Second XI Championship in 2006, having made five appearances for Zimbabwe in the 2006 Under-19 World Cup, in which the team finished in sixth place.

[10] In 2022 it was confirmed that, having served a period of ineligibility, Ballance was eligible for selection by Zimbabwe, and had agreed a contract to do so from 2022 onwards before retiring in 2023.

He had also occasionally played field hockey, tennis and rugby union for Zimbabwe in age group categories.

[21][22] He obtained a sports scholarship in 2006 to Harrow and then moved to Derbyshire as an overseas player where he shared dressing room with his relative Dave Houghton, a fact which he barely knew at that time.

[26] His 2007 season was also entirely spent in the Derbyshire second XI, with Ballance finishing as the side's leading runscorer with 390 in 6 innings, including two centuries.

He made his first-class debut for Yorkshire against Kent during the 2008 English cricket seasonat the St Lawrence Ground, Canterbury, on 11 July 2008.

[31] He made his T20 debut for Yorkshire against Warwickshire County Cricket Club on 4 July 2010 during the 2010 Friends Provident T20.

[32] He also spent his English county offseason time in Zimbabwe playing for Mid West Rhinos at the Logan Cup where he gained his first taste of captaincy.

[38][39] He compiled record 1251 runs at the 2013 County Championship which helped him to receive maiden test call-up with England for the 2013=2014 Ashes.

He missed most of the county matches for Yorkshire during the 2018 English cricket season owing to personal reasons.

[45][46][47] In September 2021, he agreed for a three-year extension of his contract with the Yorkshire club prior to the outbreak of the Azeem Rafiq racism saga.

[50] He subsequently apologised to Rafiq for the language he used,[51][52][53][54][22] but he also criticized the journalists and media for "the misleading and selective nature of the reporting".

[56] In December 2022, Ballance was released from his contract with Yorkshire two years early, under the condition that he does not play for a different County Championship side in 2023.

[57] He played for Zimbabwe national U-19 side during the 2006 U19 Cricket World Cup at the age of 16 while still being enrolled as a schoolboy at the Peterhouse Boys School in Marondera.

Ballance was the chief destroyer of England's innings as he was the pick of the bowlers for Zimbabwe with 3/21 in four overs and he propelled Zimbabwe home with the bat as well top-scoring with 47 eventually helping his side to win the tightly fought contest by two wickets and for his all-round prowess he was awarded the player of the match.

Test Match Special commentator Geoffrey Boycott acknowledged that Ballance was incredibly unlucky to be dismissed, receiving a corker that pitched in the footmarks.

Ballance was included in the squad for both of the test matches against Sri Lanka, batting at number three as a replacement for Jonathan Trott who had stepped away from cricket during the 2013–14 Ashes.

[62][63][64][65] He was one of 4 centurions in the series for England, the others being Moeen Ali, Sam Robson and Joe Root, who made a double hundred.

Ballance had mixed fortunes in the second test, scoring 74 in the first innings before being dismissed for a golden duck in the second, finishing the series with 205 runs.

In the first test against India, Ballance continued his good form with the bat by making 71 in the first innings as the match ended in a draw.

[66] Ballance became only the third England player to score hundreds in his first two Lord's Tests, after Andrew Strauss and Jonathan Trott.

[69] He redeemed himself as an ideal go-to-man for England's no 3 spot at test level and arguably a perfect successor for Jonathan Trott during the career defining series against India.

After recovering from injury Ballance played in England's opening game of the World Cup against Australia, where he was dismissed for ten.

[80] In the third Test he was less prolific, making scores of 18 and 23 as England suffered two batting collapses to lose the game by five wickets and draw the series 1-1.

Ballance was recalled due to Nick Compton's poor form, and James Taylor being forced into retirement.

On 6 July 2017, Ballance was recalled to play in the first test against South Africa at Lord's after his form recovered for Yorkshire, and was selected under Joe Root's recommendation.

[91][92] He proved his mettle and justified his selection into test squad after having scored 815 runs and with an average over 101.87 for Yorkshire during the 2017 summer.

He is set to make his full fledged T20I debut representing Zimbabwe as he had never played a T20 International match in England colours.