No more football for Burns till he is a pro cricketer

LONDON: Rory Burns and England have finally realised what Ashley Giles meant all along.

The director of England cricket has never been a fan of football warm-ups but had to wait until Burns's injury on the eve of the second Test in South Africa to finally kick the game off the training roster.

Burns's injury setback came a year after Jonny Bairstow similarly injured himself in Sri Lanka, kick-starting a debate around whether football should figure in England's training sessions at all.

“It's taken four months out of a career and the stage I had got myself to where I was playing quite nicely,” Burns said. “It was an avoidable setback and when you get something that's avoidable like that you probably re-evaluate whether you want to waste your time doing four months in a gym rehabbing or being on a plane to Sri Lanka. So while I am still a professional cricketer I probably won't play football again.”

Burns is having to spend months on the sidelines just when he had hit form as an international cricketer. He scored his maiden Test hundred in the Ashes at home and followed it up with another hundred in New Zealand. Now with a fresh county season knocking on the door, Burns is up against time to be fit and in form for Surrey.

“I know what I need to do,” Burns said. “You get judged on your output, so I need to get back for the start of the season, score runs for Surrey, tick all my captaincy boxes there and that will lead to hopefully getting my chance back in the Test arena.

“You're never as good as you think you are when you're doing well and you're never as bad as you think you are when you're not. You're always somewhere in the middle and you just bounce along. It's remembering that. Sticking to the fundamentals of what works for you.

“In terms of being international standard I probably knew red ball was the way forward. It is more rewarding for me as a person. County cricket is a long season and you need persistence day in, day out to produce results for your county, let alone trying to reach the next level... I've probably got to international cricket a slightly different way to others and that's something I can echo [to younger players]. Whatever age you are there is still that hope of playing for your country.”