Rory Burns exclusive: 'I had August off - moving forward, that can't happen in English cricket'

Rory Burns of Surrey looks on during the LV= Insurance County Championship match between Northamptonshire and Surrey - Getty Images
Rory Burns of Surrey looks on during the LV= Insurance County Championship match between Northamptonshire and Surrey - Getty Images
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Rory Burns went on the first summer holiday of his life in August, the month he turned 32.

It was well-timed, because it allowed Burns to pause for breath in a year that has been full-on: he was dropped by England at its start, which brings with it a degree of emotional baggage; he was most of the way through leading Surrey to the County Championship for the second time in his career; and his wife, Victoria, was pregnant with their second child.

But it also reflected a problem because, in his words, August is the “main month for cricket”. He remembers his father dropping him at his local club with his brothers to play as a child before cricket eventually became his profession.

This summer, Burns was not in Oval Invincibles’ plans, or England’s Test squad, so the cricket available to him was the Royal London Cup.

Recognising that this may not be the most fulfilling cricket for a player of his age and in his personal situation, the Surrey management, Alec Stewart and Gareth Batty, gave Burns the month off.

“They read the room and allowed me that time, which was a big help,” Burns says. “But moving forward, that can’t be the way we frame it.” Burns is referring to the discussion over cricket’s scheduling. Next year, England do not play between July 31 and Aug 30.

It looks likely that what Burns describes as “diminished” red-ball cricket will be played alongside the Hundred, a magnet for many of the country’s best players. For cricketers such as Burns, August is suddenly the least important month of the season.

Surrey captain Rory Burns (with trophy) leads the celebrations after Surrey's County Championship success - Getty Images
Surrey captain Rory Burns (with trophy) leads the celebrations after Surrey's County Championship success - Getty Images

“Ten [County Championship matches] would be too few,” he says. “I understand the reasons behind the high-performance review and why it suggests what it’s suggesting.

“But we are in England, it rains quite a lot. If a couple are rain-affected, that is time out of the calendar for guys to improve and play for England. Ten would be too few, but 12 might be a sweet spot. I’m more red-ball orientated, so I’d happily keep it 14. We have one red-ball competition and three white-ball.

"Maybe the imbalance needs to be addressed in terms of how we frame those white-ball comps so we get the most out of them? T20 is the money-maker for counties, and the Hundred is the money-maker for the wider game. How do we work those competitions so you get the best for England, the counties, and their members?”

The midsummer rest helped Burns recharge for a tilt at his second championship title as captain. He describes it as “his most pleasing county season”, and admits he was a little down on his team’s chances at the start of the season, with behind the scenes flux over the winter (rookie Gareth Batty replacing Vikram Solanki as head coach).

It is no coincidence that Surrey won the title for the first time since 2018 in Burns’s first year of involvement uninterrupted by England since then, but he is keen to deflect any praise.

“Our bowlers, Kemar Roach, Dan Worrall, Jamie Overton, so many others, give me options,” he says. “I just have to chuck them the ball and not do too much else. Occasionally, I move a fielder, it works and it looks like genius. But the reality is that they are doing the hard work and I am pinching the plaudits. It’s down to their skill.”

Burns puts Surrey’s success down to discussions over the team’s approach in pre-season, and believes they will kick on now, with Dom Sibley returning to the club from Warwickshire. He believes lessons have been learnt from the period after the 2018 title win, when the team’s performances dipped.

“We were probably an older side in 2018, that almost expected to do what we’d done because we did what we did,” he says. “Whereas now, we have put quite a lot of work away from the nets to do what we have this year. It’s about revisiting that to nail it down before we go again.”

The captaincy has helped Burns throw himself back into the county ranks after a three-year stint as an England regular. Every dropped international experiences a period of mourning, but Burns suffered a slow death.

He was dropped two Tests into a “very disappointing” Ashes, then recalled for the final match of the series, where he emerged with his long locks flowing down his back (he admits he is wondering whether to chop them off, but is under pressure from Surrey batting coach Jim Troughton to keep them after the title win).

He was dropped again by an interim selection panel for the tour of the West Indies in March, only to be told he was a non-travelling reserve, and has not been seen since.

Rory Burns of England walks off the field after being dismissed by Pat Cummins - Getty Images
Rory Burns of England walks off the field after being dismissed by Pat Cummins - Getty Images

Returning to Surrey, Burns decided he had to change.

“The overriding perception of me as a cricketer is quirky, doing things my own way, an idiosyncratic technique. All those things that are written and harped on about,” he says. “I thought if I was going to come back a better, more well-rounded, more consistent player at the highest level, that I might have to change a few things, just to change that perception.”

He visited his mentor Neil Stewart, brother of Alec, and made some technical adjustments. That led to some early-season difficulties, as he strived “to play the perfect innings”, before remembering that opening the batting against the red ball is about numbers, not pretty pictures.

Mid-season, he returned to what he is most comfortable with, although believes he has created some good habits through the changes. He ended the season as the champions’ top run scorer, with an average of 40.

He believes he is a better player for this season, and is not giving up on England yet. Burns says, with a laugh, that his only regret is “not getting something on that first ball of the Ashes”, when he was bowled behind his legs by Mitchell Starc, but admits frustration that more than half of his 32 Tests were played in bubble environments.

“I am not the most cricket-centric person,” he says, “and I like to get away from the game so that when I come back to it, I can focus fully on it. Bubbles take that away from you.”

Now, with England playing freewheeling Test cricket, Burns admits he is “envious” of Surrey team-mates Ollie Pope and Ben Foakes’s involvement, but is grateful that they have brought Brendon McCullum’s infectious energy back to the Oval.

“You see the way the Test team is operating, and I suppose it does make you slightly envious that you are not in amongst that,” he says. “If they can get that confidence, what it could have done for your game at that level. It could have been the difference, to be quite frank, between sitting there and sitting here.”