Although Jonny Bairstow has promised to keep playing in three different international cricket formats, he has joined his teammates in criticizing the overly busy schedule.
The workloads of international cricketers have been under scrutiny over the past week, especially in England when Ben Stokes urged officials to stop treating players like "cars" after he retired from ODI cricket.
Currently, Bairstow is the only player who will play for England this summer in all three formats. He participated in the four Test matches against New Zealand and India, the ODI series against India and South Africa that followed, and the three-match T20 series against the Proteas that starts the following week.
Bairstow is fully aware of how harsh the fixture schedule is. He still wants it all, though, from his perspective as a 32-year-old who is now a crucial component at No. 5 in the Test team, as well as the ODI opener and T20i middle-order hitter.
He questioned, "I don't think we have a choice, do we?" The schedule is the schedule. Although it can be tough to decide whether you want to play fewer games, Stokesy does in some ways have a point concerning the overlap in games. There used to be training days before games and lead-ins to television shows, but there are going to be back-to-back games soon.
They are trying to fit in different things like the Hundred and everything else. It's a tricky job for everyone, but Ben mentioned a car and re-fuelling, didn't he, which I thought was a good analogy. But yes, it does have certain impacts, and if you're playing everything at full intensity it will take it out of people."