ANDREW Gale has revealed he is already preparing for captain Gary Ballance to be recalled to England’s Test team in July.

The Yorkshire captain is the form batsman in county cricket this summer having scored a staggering 1,027 runs in 14 innings across all formats.

He has impressed many an onlooker, including England’s new Test captain Joe Root, a known admirer.

Ballance, 27, will be looking to add to his tally of 508 runs from three Specsavers County Championship matches against Lancashire at Emirates Old Trafford today.

England’s first Test of the summer is against South Africa at Lord’s on July 6, with coach Gale fearing that he could lose the left-hander for a large portion of the season’s final three months.

“Appointing Gary as captain was always going to be a risk for us because if he bats like he can he will definitely be on England’s radar,” said Gale.

“He’s scoring runs in front of the England captain, who can see just how well he is batting at the moment.

“That’s a concern for us, although we obviously want Gary to do well and progress in his career and play for England – the same with all our players.

“We are already talking about how we will fill that hole and put some plans in place so it’s not so much of a shock when it comes around.”

Yorkshire squad v Lancashire: Ballance c, Bresnan, Brooks, Carver, Coad, Fisher, Handscomb, Hodd w, Leaning, Lees, Lyth, Patterson, Rafiq, Sidebottom.

lYORKSHIRE will face Surrey at Headingley in their Royal London One-Day Cup play-off on Tuesday, June 13.

Surrey qualified third in the South Group (above Sussex and Glamorgan) after their final at Bristol was washed out, while Somerset, whose game was abandoned at Lord’s, will face Nottinghamshire in the other play-off game.

The winners of the Yorkshire v Surrey tie will face Worcestershire at New Road in the semi-finals, while either Somerset or Nottinghamshire will travel to Essex.