A stylish batsman who plays straight, plays late and has the patience to wait for balls in his area, Joe Burns has proven his worth as a Test match opener for Australia but has battled to bed down a permanent place despite playing in an era where Australia has been desperate for quality Test batsmen.

Burns burst on to the scene with 140 on Sheffield Shield debut against South Australia late in the 2010-11 season, the third highest score on debut by a Queensland player. He became a fixture in the Shield-winning state team the following summer, when he scored 781 runs at 41.10, placing him fifth on the competition tally. Named the Bradman Young Cricketer of the Year in 2013, Burns enjoyed a move up the order to become an opener for Queensland. In 2014-15 he was Queensland's leading Shield run scorer with 793 at 52.86, and his Test debut came in the same summer at No.6 as a replacement for the injured Michael Clarke. But despite scoring a pair of fifties in his second game he was dropped for the tours of West Indies and England that followed. He played his initial ODIs in the British Isles following the 2015 Ashes and was chosen for Australia's Test tour of Bangladesh, which was ultimately cancelled due to security concerns.

Burns was confirmed as David Warner's new Test opening partner for Australia's 2015-16 home summer and scored three centuries in eight Tests. But after only four failures on the 2016 tour of Sri Lanka he was dropped. He was recalled for the disastrous Hobart Test against South Africa in November 2016, suffered two unfortunate failures and was again shown no mercy in being discarded for Matt Renshaw. He was prolific in the Sheffield Shield over the next two summers but was overlooked for Cameron Bancroft for the 2017-18 Ashes.

He was recalled in the wake of the Sandpaper disaster in Cape Town and on limited preparation, having been flown in late following a victorious Shield final for Queensland, top-scored in the second innings in Johannesburg but was not selected for the next tour of the UAE. He was also overlooked for start of the 2018-19 the home summer while Australia continued with the Aaron Finch experiment at the top of the order. Burns was finally recalled for the 2019 Sri Lanka series and made his fourth Test hundred in his 16th Test in Canberra.
ESPNCricinfo staff