The Yorkshire star lacks Buttler's X-factor, and will have his weakness against left-arm pace ruthlessly tested by Mohammad Amir
A year ago this month, Gary Ballance departed Lord’s a shadow of the batsman he had been 12 months previously.
A high-class Australian bowling line-up, including a ferocious Mitchell Johnson, had exposed the fragility previously opened by a broken finger and impressive New Zealand pace attack.
The Yorkshire batsman, whose Test average was as high as 67.9 in April 2015, looked technically shot.
Ballance was not fluent when runs were flowing in the summer of 2014, so it stands to reason that when things turned sour, it wasn’t pretty.
By the time a simple forward-defensive shot looked an arduous task and every run, it seemed, prompted a beating of the bat shortly afterwards, it was time for a change.
He was shipped off back to Yorkshire, and the County Champions’ run-machine Jonny Bairstow stepped in.
While the selectors made it clear, understandably, that this was not the end of the 26-year-old’s international career, his return to the Test squad at this stage comes as a surprise.
His average of 33.7 so far this season is not stellar – the likes of Keaton Jennings and James Hildreth boast averages of over 70 – though popular alternative Jos Buttler hasn’t hit a red ball since October.
Buttler has, though, hit two scintillating ODI hundreds since then, accompanying a run of form which has seen him become England’s most valuable one-day batsman.
His softly-spoken manner, in combination with rapid hands and extraordinary power, renders him the country’s latest cricketing darling.
His form surely represented the best chance for a player too good to ignore for long to get back on the Test match wagon.
Ballance has no such X-factor – or form – to fall back on, as well as an evident weakness against left-arm pace which will be ruthlessly tested by Wahab Riaz and Mohammad Amir.
He will argue that his approach to batting in Test cricket thus far is born of England’s desire for him to be their ‘next’ Jonathan Trott.
But as England look to improve their aggressive, accessible approach, Ballance is unlikely to get pulses racing with a Test strike rate of 47.7, in comparison to Buttler’s improvable 57.6.
Not that the numbers necessarily tell the whole story.
Selectors relying on gut instinct – as they famously did years ago on Marcus Trescothick and Michael Vaughan – is a refreshing approach.
Possessing the character to perform at the highest level trumps averages and strike-rates, and the hierarchy have decided that Ballance’s approach is more suitable to taking on Pakistan.
His presence does add a little more solidity to a batting line-up which, were Buttler involved, might have proved as flaky as it was potentially explosive.
Ballance has 245 runs in his last two first-class games – an encouraging upturn – and will feel he deserves his call-up having trooped around South Africa in the winter without any action.
With Joe Root set to bat at three, Ballance may be encouraged to reveal the more expansive side of his game that was kept well under wraps throughout his first stint in the side.
Buttler’s omission also allows Jonny Bairstow breathing space, as England’s man of the series against Sri Lanka aims to quickly improve his stumbling glove-work.
But after his under-par performances in the first two Tests of the heavily scrutinised Ashes series last summer, the pressure is really on Ballance to justify this leap of faith.
With Buttler’s presence tangible, Ben Stokes set to return, and several batsmen outperforming him domestically this season, a failure to deliver might be terminal.
