"You grow into Test cricket and get to a place where you feel you are going well, growing and trying to get better. That was where I was at"
Friday 24 January 2020 13:50, UK
Rory Burns is hoping to be fit for the start of the county season with Surrey as he recovers from an ankle ligament problem.
The England opener flew home from South Africa earlier this month after injuring himself playing football ahead of the second Test in Cape Town.
Burns will also sit out March's two-Test tour in Sri Lanka but expects to line up for his county when the Championship campaign starts in April.
"I'm in a moon-boot now and been given the all clear by the surgeon," Burns, who has scored two tons and six fifties in 15 Tests, told Sky Sports Cricket during the fourth Test in Johannesburg.
You have to embrace that social media thing, you can’t change it. People on Twitter are going to say you are good, bad or indifferent so as soon as you get your head round that you can shelve it and deal with it.
"I started some rehab [on Thursday] and will be back in the gym for the next few months so that will keep me busy.
"Hopefully I will be back for the start of the season, touch wood. I should be knocking around that first game."
Burns managed just two fifties in his first seven Tests, and after being twice dismissed for six against Ireland, his spot looked in jeopardy ahead of The Ashes.
However, the 29-year-old notched his maiden ton in the series opener against Australia at Edgbaston and added a second century in New Zealand prior to Christmas.
Burns says his injury has come at a frustrating time, while he also spoke about learning to deal with the scrutiny that comes with being a Test cricketer.
"[Test cricket] is the same as your first-class career," he said. "You grow into it and get to a place where you feel you are going well, growing and trying to get better.
"That was the place I was at with my Test stuff. I was playing quite nicely."
On being analysed and sticking to his technique, Burns added: "When Nasser Hussain or whoever are picking apart your technique you have to be really strong and say 'who do I trust, who are the voices I want to listen to?'
"Nass might be brilliant about breaking down technique but does he know your technique or is he just seeing a snapshot?
"What I found difficult after those seven Tests was people making a judgement on a snapshot of my technique and not my first-class career, which stacks up."
