Rising star Rory Burns to ply his trade for Randy Petes He is not a member of England's Ashes squad but a promising young talent will be in action in Sydney from this weekend. Surrey batsman Rory Burns was last month named County Championship breakthrough player of the year, an award won last season by England opener Joe Root, and he has arrived to play for grade team Randwick Petersham. A haul of 917 first-class runs in the English season has many raving about the 23-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman as an international player of the future. And in the time-honoured tradition of English cricketers heading out to play in Australia when the Ashes are being played in the southern hemisphere, Burns is one of three Surrey players signed for club cricket in Australia this summer. Joining David Warner and Simon Katich at Randwick Petersham, Burns' ambitions to follow Root onto the international stage are hampered by the presence of England gloveman Matt Prior. There is also a back-up England development squad in Australia this summer, playing matches while the Ashes are on. But if a call-up to Alastair Cook's Test line-up from club cricket seems fanciful, just ask Randwick Petersham's president. Mike Whitney was playing for a club called Fleetwood in the northern league in Lancashire in the English summer of 1981 before getting a start at Gloucestershire. A couple of decent games for the county later, and following a succession of fast-bowling injuries that rendered Jeff Thomson, Geoff Lawson, Carl Rackemann, Rodney Hogg and Len Pascoe unavailable, Whitney was plucked out to play for Australia in the fifth Test. "I was the only bloke in the country," Whitney said.