Burns urges batsmen to have open minds

Joe Burns might be glad that in Adelaide he is not playing for his place in the team. Nobody knows quite what to expect from the inaugural day-night Test with a pink ball, but few players involved in the match have played more pink-ball games than Burns. And while he is entering the Test with an open mind, his record in the format does not make for happy reading.

In four day-night pink-ball games over the past two years, at the Gabba, the WACA, the MCG and Manuka Oval, Burns has scored 15, 1, 0, 7, 25, 6 and 5. These encounters for both Queensland and the Prime Minister's XI have given Burns a good grounding in what to expect from the pink ball, and he knows that batsmen should not expect it to behave exactly like the red Kookaburra.

"I've played a few games now and it's different to a red ball," Burns told reporters in Adelaide upon the team's arrival on Sunday. "I think you have to accept it's not going to play the same way as your red ball. So you can't kid yourself and go into it thinking that you can play the same way or prepare the same way.

"There are differences in the way the ball reacts, and at times visibility of the ball, but you have to have an open mind as a player and just accept there will be challenges along the way you have to make sure you can stand up to. When you're out in the middle you can't look for excuses with the ball, you get on and play the game and whatever is coming down at you, you have to make sure you're playing it as best you can."

One thing Burns has not experienced is a day-night match with the pink ball at Adelaide Oval, and he knows from his previous matches that not all venues handle the day-night format in quite the same way. The pink ball scuffed up significantly during New Zealand's match against the PM's XI in Canberra last month, but it is expected to hold its colour better at Adelaide Oval.

"For me it was different on where you played," Burns said. "I've never played [with the pink ball] in Adelaide. I know under lights in Brisbane and Perth it was very difficult. It seemed to swing a lot more and a lot harder to see. But it could be the stands at the Gabba maybe, and at the MCG it seemed like it was fairly consistent all the way through.

"In Canberra, it seemed like visibility-wise it was better at night but just swung a little bit more. I guess you have to wait and see what the wicket plays like in Adelaide as well. I'm sure we'll discuss it this week. Luckily, the New South Wales boys played here a few weeks ago in a pink-ball game."

Australia's players have Monday off from training before they begin to tackle the pink ball in the Adelaide Oval nets on Tuesday, and they will train later in the afternoon and towards night time to prepare for the new challenges. Burns, who scored his maiden Test century while opening in the first Test at the Gabba, has been training with the pink ball himself to get used to it ahead of this week's Test.

"For me personally I've been training by myself with the pink ball just to feel a little bit more comfortable," he said. "You start to realise that it's just a cricket ball and you kind of play the same way.

"It's more so just understanding when the ball may react differently and having that mind-frame that in the space of half an hour might go from not swinging to swinging or vice-versa. I think the key is to just have that open mind and be ready for whatever challenge comes along."