After announcing a sabbatical from first-class cricket, Adil Rashid created quite the mini-storm. For David Willey, however, the decision was understandable given that cricketers play a lot of cricket throughout the year.

Indeed, a cricketer in the top-tier plays around a 100 games in both domestic and international circuit combined, something that takes toll on the body.

"It's to be expected," he said of Rashid's decision. "It is too much to play everything and that's cricket now. If you look around now with all the white-ball cricket around the world people can make a career out of that.

David Willey further added that it won’t shock him to see many players opting to go in the same path as Adil Rashid due to the workload related to the game. He also stated the damning truth regarding the sport, that people can only be in it for a while and can’t continue playing in their 60s—like people in most jobs can.

"People make decisions in all different careers as to what they enjoy and what suits them and it wouldn't surprise me if more guys do it over the next few years with the amount of white-ball cricket that's available throughout the year. Whether more people decide to do it or not is another matter but it's certainly been discussed.

"It's just the way the game seems to be going and these Twenty20 competitions are appealing to people not only for the cricket but also financially. At the end of the day we have a short time playing sport - it's not something we do until we're 60 years old - and there comes a time when you have to make decisions for yourself and your family."

In the fast-paced world of cricket, where the financial aspect of the game forces the top echelons to make more ODI games in a year, playing the longer format of the game can be grueling. With so many domestic T20 competitions, the longer version of the game is taking a hit, something that the left-handed pacer acknowledges.

"It's probably nearly impossible to play Test cricket when you're playing so much white-ball cricket," Willey said. "Last year we were barely available for any four-day cricket because of the Champions Trophy so it then becomes difficult to play regular red-ball cricket, which you need to be doing if you want to be pushing for Tests.