New Yorkshire head coach Ottis Gibson is keen for Gary Ballance to continue his career at the county after he admitted using racist language towards former teammate Azeem Rafiq.
Ballance was absent from Yorkshire's pre-season tour to the UAE, but Gibson held talks with the former England international and has backed him to return to the fold. The 32-year-old is the subject of an investigation by the Cricket Discipline Commission and could be charged over his comments.
However, Gibson believes Ballance has "done his time", telling the Daily Mail : "He is struggling at the minute mentally with everything that’s going on and the fact that the ECB are still doing an investigation. We don’t know what the findings of that might be, and he doesn’t feel ready to come back but he assures me he is still very keen to continue his career at Yorkshire.
"Gary Ballance in any team in the County Championship makes that team better. We will support him as best as we can and hope that he gets through what he’s going through and comes back as soon as he can. He is an asset.
"I’ve worked with Gary in the England set-up. He’s a lovely, bubbly guy, a very happy guy generally and I was surprised when I heard about some of the things because that’s not the guy that I knew in the England dressing room. I told him that.
"If the ECB ban him then we would have to deal with that, but if they don’t, I would like to think that the club would allow him to continue because he’s done his time. I’d like to think we could get him re-integrated as soon as possible. That would be my hope."
Gibson's comments come after Yorkshire's interim managing director of cricket Darren Gough said Ballance would be part of "an inclusive and welcoming environment" at the club. "It was a difficult situation with Gary," Gough said.
"He was disciplined by the club, he admitted the use of racist language and apologised for it. It’s crucial all forms of discrimination are eradicated from our game and society and we talked to Gary about his actions and behaviour.
"He understands and he’s educating himself. He’s going to be part now of an inclusive and welcoming environment that we’re building at Yorkshire and that’s obvious already in our recruitment on the coaching side."
Rafiq, however, has said he is yet to receive a "proper apology" from Ballance. He tweeted: "100% the right way is 'anyone who apologises deserves a second chance'. Let’s be very clear to this day I haven’t had any proper apology from most people including Gary."
