England out to restore Ballance: report

Gary Ballance is reportedly set to earn a recall to England's Test squad despite being dropped after just two matches of the recent Ashes series.

Ballance was discarded following the second Test against Australia at Lord's after he averaged 16.75 from four Tests in the UK summer against the Aussies and New Zealand.

The left-hander was repeatedly undone by the pace and swing of the bowlers from the Antipodes, a dry patch of form that followed a breakthrough 2014 season featuring three centuries.

Watch: Mitchell Johnson knocks over Gary Ballance at The Oval

The Ashes winners are expected to make some changes ahead of their Test tours to the UAE and South Africa later this year, especially with Ballance's Yorkshire teammate Adam Lyth failing to pass fifty from nine innings against Australia.

And The London Evening Standard is reporting Ballance, still well-regarded by England's selectors, is expected to be taken on at least one of the upcoming Test tours.

The Zimbabwean-born batsman still boasts an impressive Test record of four centuries and six fifties from 14 Tests and an average of 47.76.

And he found form again last week for Yorkshire, posting 165 as the defending Division One champions played out a draw with Sussex at Hove.

"It’s been a tough few weeks but it’s nice to get a big hundred and that will give me more confidence and hopefully I can kick on from this during the rest of the season," the 25-year-old said.

"England have told me to go back and work on my game and that is what I am doing."

While England outplayed Australia and deserved to regain the Ashes urn, the home side put in some wildly inconsistent performances and suffered heavy defeats at Lord's and The Oval.

Selector Angus Fraser said inconsistency was to be expected from a side that at times during the series featured up to six players with less than 20 Tests of experience.

Fraser, who played 46 Tests and 42 ODIs for his country, was confident captain Alastair Cook and new coach Trevor Bayliss had the talent at their disposal to continue their rise up the Test rankings.

"When you’ve got young players finding their way, maybe not making the right decisions every time they go out there, there are going to be inconsistent performances," Fraser said.

"That’s why you need your senior players around. Someone like Alastair Cook just grinds out runs even when he’s not in the best form. It’s about the side evolving. 

"There will be disappointing days and disappointing games, but during this summer you hope everyone has seen there are some good cricketers there, too, who are really capable of grabbing games by the scruff of the neck."