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Rory Burns interview: I didn’t react well to life in England’s bio-secure bubble... I couldn’t switch off

<p>Promising start: Rory Burns lets fly against the West Indies last summer</p> (Getty Images)

Promising start: Rory Burns lets fly against the West Indies last summer

(Getty Images)

His team-mates see Rory Burns as one of the most mentally strong cricketers on the circuit, a solid sounding board who takes everything in his stride.

But even Burns was tested by life inside international cricket’s bio-secure bubble last summer, which he describes as “short but strange”.

Burns’s mental strength in the game is built on an ability to manage his time and get away from the game. In the bubble, he found that impossible — an issue exacerbated by a poor run of form and the fact that his wife was pregnant with their first child and had suffered a slipped disc. He was unable to help.

“The summer was short and sharp and it just got away from me at times,” he reflects. “It was great to win both series. [Against] West Indies I played quite nicely, Pakistan I think I got some good balls. Suddenly, the summer’s done.

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“Bubble life was different. It’s not something I personally enjoyed that much. I like getting out and about a bit more, to do different things. It seems rugby has learned from that, they’ve been getting in and out of the bubble. That’s quite important.

“I found that you couldn’t get away from cricket. You walk from one end of the ground to the other. I like to go for a coffee, see a mate or my missus; refreshing yourself by not thinking cricket — and that’s a lot harder to do in the bubble setting. That was the main challenge for me. It sounds quite trivial, but everyone’s experiencing this period differently.”

Burns had a solid series against West Indies before totalling just 20 runs in four innings against Pakistan. “When I have played my best, it’s when cricket’s not been the be-all and end-all,” he says.

He admits that the birth of he and wife Victoria’s first child, which he would like to attend, could see him miss part of the tour of Sri Lanka in January. The dates for the two-Test tour are still not confirmed, but England are pencilled in to depart on January 2, with the series beginning in the middle of the month.

“I’m not too sure at the minute,” he said. “I’m waiting to see what the dates are. I don’t know them yet, so it’s a judgment call closer to the time.

“I’m not sure [whether I would miss a Test]. I’d like to be there for the birth, especially with it being the first one. I will need to decide a bit closer to the time, when there’s a little bit more knowledge of what’s going on.”

<p>Struggle: Burns trudges off for six in the third Test against Pakistan as the summer turns into a struggle</p>POOL/AFP via Getty Images

Struggle: Burns trudges off for six in the third Test against Pakistan as the summer turns into a struggle

POOL/AFP via Getty Images

England’s management, who take an enlightened view on such issues, would obviously not stand in Burns’s way. In July, captain Joe Root missed the first Test of the home summer, against West Indies, to attend the birth of his second child.

The issue is complicated by the bio-secure bubbles and travel during the pandemic, and it is not yet clear what steps Burns would have to take when going home or rejoining the group. England face India — either in India or the UAE — immediately after the Sri Lanka tour.

This means Burns is spending his time building flat-pack furniture ahead of the birth. With their house also being done up, it has been a busy period since he returned from a holiday in Italy when Surrey’s T20 campaign ended in October. He is back training with England at Loughborough ahead of the post-Christmas tours, whatever his involvement in them. At Loughborough, England’s Test players are training on worn surfaces that reflect subcontinental pitches, but Burns knows his most important preparation will be for the mental side of the game.

“Probably my main reflections coming out of the summer have been how to deal with that from a mental side of things,” he says. “To get in place things you can think about whilst in there rather than always nipping off and jumping on the Xbox, something that is more constructive and refreshes you a bit better. From that perspective, thinking about ways of doing that, different routines you can get in.”

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