Rory Burns has been labelled the "best opener in the country" by Surrey head coach Gareth Batty ahead of the new County Championship season.
Burns has played 32 Test matches for England and scored 1789 runs at an average of 30.32, but was recently dropped after a lean Ashes series. Against Australia, Burns managed just 77 runs at an average of 12.83 and was axed for the recent series against the West Indies.
However, since the start of 2015 England have handed Test debuts to 21 different batters and Burns is the only that averages more than 30 in Test cricket. And Batty believes Burns is well-placed to earn a recall this summer, describing him as "the best opener in the country".
"I'm not worried about him putting his best case across," Batty said. "I worry about who might select the [England] team."
Burns is one of several Surrey players to have represented England over the past year, with talented young batter Ollie Pope a non-playing member of the squad which faced the West Indies and all-rounder Sam Curran recovering from a back injury. "Our duty is to help them get back to where they want to be," Batty added.
Surrey's director of cricket Alec Stewart also defended the County Championship amid criticism that it is failing to produce players capable of doing well in Test cricket. England captain Joe Root delivered a scathing verdict of domestic cricket following the Ashes, claiming any success his side has is "in spite of county cricket, not because of county cricket".
However, Stewart believes the busy international schedule and lure of lucrative franchise competitions around the world is to blame, with young players getting less opportunities to test themselves against the best. "The gulf between the Championship and Test cricket has gotten bigger," he said.
"Test players used to play county cricket. They would finish a Test and play a Championship match the next day. [County players] would be bowling to Graham Gooch or Mike Gatting or facing high-quality overseas bowlers. The quality of overseas player has diminished.
"We’ve still got good players [in the Championship], you’ve got excellent coaches. When they go up it’s a massive jump and it’s a massive jump in all domestic cricket around the world.
"The scrutiny you’re under now is greater than it was. That’s when you need selection to be strong. If you’re good enough for one game you’re generally good enough for five or six."
