FIT-again captain Gary Ballance is backing Yorkshire's batsmen to come good during the final month of the county season.

Ballance has recovered from the fractured finger he suffered while batting for England against South African fast bowler Morne Morkel at Trent Bridge last month.

While confident of still succeeding at Test level, the left-hander is not worrying about an Ashes call, instead being determined to help his side avert danger in the Specsavers County Championship.

Ballance has been Yorkshire's stand-out batsman this year with 815 four-day runs from eight matches with two hundreds, one double ton and four further half-centuries.

Unfortunately, aside from departed Australian Peter Handscomb, Adam Lyth is the only other player in the squad to pass 400.

Ballance missed Yorkshire's back-to-back defeats against Somerset and Essex at Scarborough in early July and early August as a result of England commitments and then his injury.

He is now set to face champions Middlesex at Headingley next Tuesday and admitted: "It's been tough for a few of the lads – but that's part and parcel of the game.

"Sometimes you can start the season with a few low scores, you feel in bad nick and are all of a sudden searching for runs. It's not a place you want to be.

"You don't want to be looking at your end score, you want to be focusing on your next ball and trying to keep things very simple.

"Hopefully with the time we've had off, the guys can get back into a good place mentally and get back scoring runs.

"The guys have worked hard all season, it just hasn't happened – but I'm backing them to put that right during the final month of the season."

Ballance mentioned the time Yorkshire have had off, with the team not having played a first-team game since the final NatWest T20 Blast clash with Northamptonshire on August 17.

By the time the Middlesex fixture comes around, it will have been a near three-week break, something Ballance describes as "a mini pre-season".

That means this week's second XI three-day match against Derbyshire at Harrogate, which started yesterday, features a host of first-teamers – excluding Ballance, who will instead spend his time in the nets.

"Getting back in the England side and only getting two games because of injury, it was frustrating," said the Yorkshire skipper.

"But that happens. I can't do anything about that and I'll take it on the chin and move on.

"It's one of the first times in my career I've been injured. I haven't missed much cricket in the past, so it's been different."

Although some may be writing his international hopes off after scores of 20, 34, 27 and four in four innings against South Africa, the man himself is certainly confident he can still thrive in an England shirt.

Ballance said: "Absolutely I can. I felt good in the games I played.

"It would have been nice to kick on and get a score but it wasn't the case. I came up against a good and strong South Africa attack.

"But I can't focus on that right now. All I can do is concentrate on the next four games for Yorkshire, look after the side well and contribute with the bat."

Meanwhile, Adil Rashid has been called on to play in South Africa's new T20 Global League this winter.

The Bradford all-rounder will play for Cape Town Knight Riders alongside Chris Gayle, JP Duminy, Tom Curran and Dale Steyn in a competition which runs through November and December.

A host of England players, including Jason Roy, Alex Hales and Steven Finn, will also play, although it does clash with the Ashes should any be selected to tour Australia.