Gary Ballance misses start of Yorkshire’s season as Darren Gough oversees change

Gary Ballance is poised to miss the start of Yorkshire’s county campaign as he prioritises his mental health, according to the club’s interim managing director of cricket Darren Gough.

Ballance, who featured in 23 Tests for England between 2014 and 2017, came under enormous scrutiny last November as he confessed to using racist language towards former Yorkshire team-mate Azeem Rafiq.

While Ballance was suspended indefinitely from England selection as part of the sanctions handed down for Yorkshire’s mishandling of Rafiq’s racism claims, Gough revealed the batter will stay at the club.

It is hoped Ballance will return to the fray at some point over the summer but Gough is adamant there will be no pressure on a player who had time out of the game in 2020 due to anxiety and stress.

“He’s still a Yorkshire player,” Gough told the PA news agency. “He’s off with his mental health, he’s struggled with that in the past as well.

“The best thing I can ask as managing director of cricket is people give him that space and privacy. It’s a very difficult time for him.

“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.”

Gough was speaking just hours after Yorkshire’s members approved structural reforms at an extraordinary general meeting that has given the green light for Headingley to stage international matches again.

Hosting England fixtures is crucial to Yorkshire’s revenue, hard hit following the withdrawal of several sponsors amid the Rafiq episode, which plunged the club into crisis.

But Gough hopes the resolutions that passed overwhelmingly on Thursday evening, which included the ratification