Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root are two Yorkshire batsmen who have made their mark on the England set-up in recent weeks, and now there could be a third to follow in the form of left-hander Gary Ballance.

Born in Zimbabwe and the nephew of former international wicketkeeper and ex-Derbyshire coach Dave Houghton, Ballance is starting to turn a few heads in the circles that matter.

The 22-year-old plundered a match-winning 121 not out against Gloucestershire at Bristol in the County Championship last weekend, confirming the 12th first-class hundred of his career.

A couple of winters with the MidWest Rhinos franchise in his homeland have helped him capture ten of those tons but he is definitely starting to impress in English county cricket too.

He has been watched extensively by England selector James Whitaker already this summer in his duties trawling the county circuit for talent, and it would be no surprise to see him in line for a Lions place later in the summer.

Not surprisingly, and quite rightly, however, Ballance is keen to concentrate on matters closer to his adopted home.

“All I can say is that I need to keep scoring runs for Yorkshire and keep winning games for Yorkshire,” he said, having shared a brilliant fourth-wicket stand of 203 with Phil Jaques in the pursuit of 400 to win at Bristol. “We’ll see where it goes from there.

“I think my innings against Gloucester is up there with my best for Yorkshire.

“Having Jaques at the other end was a massive help. He was scoring runs quite quickly, so I thought I’d try and give him as much of the strike as possible.”

Ballance’s other ton for Yorkshire was 111 against Warwickshire at Edgbaston last August.

“Gary Ballance has got a big future,” said White Rose skipper Andrew Gale. “He has been brilliant for us over the last year and a half.”

And Aussie Jaques added: “Gary is a serious player. It was the first time I had really seen him bat for an extended period of time at Gloucester, and he was really impressive. I’m sure there’ll be a few more hundreds to come. He could go to the Lions. That hundred will make the selectors sit up and take notice.”

The Lions face Australia A in two four-day matches between August 7 and 17 at Old Trafford and Edgbaston.