Burns says the current burden on players - the Championship, T20 Blast, Royal London Cup and The Hundred, plus any international commitments - is simply too much to bear
Rory Burns has said the volume of cricket played in the county game is "unsustainable" for players.
At a time when the English game is going through something of an identity crisis in the aftermath of a miserable Test winter, plenty of criticism has been directed at the county chame.
But Burns, who was dropped from the national side during the Ashes, says there is more to the situation than meets the eye. And he believes the current burden on players - the LV= Insurance Championship, T20 Blast, Royal London Cup and The Hundred, plus any international commitments - is simply too much to bear.
Rory Burns in action for Surrey on Thursday
"There's just so much cricket on," Burns told the Wisden Cricket Weekly podcast.
"The volume of cricket we play in the county game, and now with The Hundred, it's probably marginally unsustainable.
"It's easy to say this bloke has scored this amount of runs or taken this many wickets or that many catches. It's a lot more difficult to have a more realistic view of things.
"Our county cricket promotes skills-based bowlers that can swing the ball or nibble the ball on green surfaces with a Duke's ball"
"He's playing a Twenty20, he's travelling the next day, he's playing another Twenty20. I remember that being my month after the New Zealand series leading into the India series, I was playing white-ball cricket, day-on/day-off Twenty20s and travelling in between."
The Surrey opener averages 44.78 for his county and had been at the top of the order for England since 2018, but now needs a good start to the Championship campaign to regain his spot.
Burns also said that domestic long-form cricket in England is not preparing players for Test matches.
Burns endured a difficult winter
"Our county cricket promotes skills-based bowlers that can swing the ball or nibble the ball on green surfaces with a Dukes ball, which obviously suits our own conditions and fulfils the needs of counties at times, rather than actually promoting guys to the Test arena.
"Facing Starc, Cummins, Hazlewood and Lyon is fractionally different to what you get in the county game."
The 31-year-old was in action at Edgbaston on Thursday, in Surrey's first match of the Championship, scoring 41 before he was caught and bowled by Danny Briggs.
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