April 8, 2021, Rory Burns and Mark Stoneman walk out to bat, for Surrey against Gloucestershire. In another year, it would have been a normal first-class game for Burns but it was 2021. The task just became tougher but for him, it was an opportunity to redeem himself after his first experience of Indian summer, where he suffered. 

An ace up his sleeve

However, the ‘ace’ that he had meant that he was still in the game, silenced now. In other words, he had to retake his guard, in a way to prevent him from letting himself, his country down in high-pressure situations. A home average of 34.66 wasn’t going to be enough to replenish his credits in the British bank and having gone a year without a century, it was just meant to be tougher. 

"We were all pretty happy with that group of players and now, because of a unique series against India, it's all of a sudden, 'should he be slung out, should he be slung out?' I would be very surprised if Burnsy doesn't score heavily for us in these first seven Championship games. And I'd be even more surprised if he's not walking out to bat alongside Sibley in the first Test match," Alec Stewart, Surrey's director of cricket had predicted earlier, talking to ESPN Cricinfo.

After four innings in the County season, Burns had scores of 4, 74, 36 and 8,  which wasn’t going to raffirm his status as the first-choice opener in the country. The wake-up alarm had gotten to him, he had no choice but to step up. In the series of games, that started from the clash against Middlesex, Burns stepped up, posting scores of 54, 80, 75, 55, 64 and then a unbeaten 104. 

Rory Burns and Dom Sibley walked out - England trailed by 378 runs but the conditions suddenly saw a lot more offer for the bowlers. Suddenly, the Three Lions found themselves in a position of bother, at home, with the score reading 18/2. 7,000 fans at the venue were shocked looking at how the batsmen had responded to New Zealand’s batting display and moreso, looking at the way they were panicking. 

England’s top-order was no more the force that they were once upon a time - the fans saw that, the commentators saw that and Burns could see the criticism around the corner. Perhaps, that came as a guiding call for the left-hander, who quickly turned away from his early troubles into an extended opportunity for himself. Wickets fell in heaps around him but the solid defence remained unperturbed, along with Root, who seemingly countered one punch with another. 

New Zealand bowlers made the English batters pay the price for their lacklustre batting. Suddenly, they found themselves crawling at 140/6, all specialist batsmen had already departed, leaving Burns and Ollie Robinson with a whole lot of work to do. The Surrey opener was on 66 off 172 deliveries, looking as solid as New Zealand’s Devon Conway if not more. 

On Saturday, with every passing challenge, Burns stood unperturbed, yet again but this time, on his English road to revival when the other batsmen were hell-bent on digging their own golden graves. Bent, smashed, tonked on the helmet twice in the same innings, dropped, missed stumping, everything was aligning - for a Burns century.

When he was still at 98, needing two more runs for a well-deserved century, his first at Lord’s, it was No.11, James Anderson, on strike. Kyle Jamieson was in full flow, he tried to bounce the southpaw twice but Anderson held on as the crowd obliged, with loud applause. There he was, in full glory, slicing it off to the third man and when he removed his helmet, there it was, the ponytail, the hard work, the sweat and most importantly, the sweetest century for the Surrey-man.