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News

Joe Burns fails again - now what for the Australia selectors?

The incumbent Test opener has just 62 runs in nine innings this season

Andrew McGlashan
Andrew McGlashan
12-Dec-2020
Another failure for Joe Burns has left Australia's opening-batting plans in tatters just days before the opening Test in Adelaide after he fell for just 1 on the final day of the pink-ball warm-up at the SCG.
Burns never looked comfortable in his stay at the crease against Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami before being trapped lbw by the latter when he walked across his crease to a full delivery.
Moments after Burns trudged off the television cameras panned to Trevor Hohns, the national selector, on his phone in the stand.
Marcus Harris, who was drafted into the Test squad yesterday as a replacement for the concussed Will Pucovski, also failed when he was caught at leg slip.
Heading into the final day of the game the situation was particularly acute for Burns who now has just 62 runs in nine innings. As it stands he remains in the Test squad for Adelaide, but another failure in Sydney will leave the selectors with a big decision to make.
"There is some pressure on him, no doubt," Chris Rogers, part of the Australia A coaching staff, said after the second day's play. "He's not stupid. So he has to make the most of this opportunity, that's pretty important, and then it's up to the selectors."
Rogers encouraged Burns, who has been backed by the selectors, captain, coach and team-mates during a lean start to the season, to cut out the noise surrounding his position. He is the senior opener in the absence of David Warner, who may also struggle to be fit for the second Test in Melbourne, while Harris has recalled after Pucovski was ruled out with concussion.
"From my point of view, you can get to this point where you're just putting so much pressure on yourself," Rogers said. "You think you're doing everything you can and it just doesn't seem to be going your way.
"You make one little mistake and all of a sudden you're back sitting in the pavilion. A lot of the time it's just about letting go, what will be will be and just go out and do your processes, do your routines and just try and stay in the moment and watch the ball as I know our Australian coach says.
"So it's a pretty simple message. There's probably a lot of noise in their heads at the moment but the best thing they can do is just go out and worry about the next ball."
The Indians were far enough in front that they could have declared on the second evening and put Australia's potential Test opening pair back in against the pink ball under lights. Rogers was a little surprised they did not take the chance to ramp up the pressure, but also understood what they were aiming to get out of the match.
"They're probably pretty relieved they didn't get stuck under lights there," he said. "That would have been a challenging little period.
"They [India] are looking to get different things out of the game and batting under lights was probably gold for them as well, the experience they get.
"Maybe on another day they might have thought 'we'll declare and have a crack at two potential opening batsmen for Australia in challenging conditions. But that was their decision.
"But I know as an opening batsman I definitely would not have liked to be out there batting tonight."

Andrew McGlashan is a deputy editor at ESPNcricinfo