Knee fails to stop Burns achieving World Cup dream

A piece of bone the size of a tooth was never going to stand between Erin Burns and a once-in-a-lifetime chance of playing in a home World Cup.

The 31-year-old allrounder made a long-awaited Australian T20I debut last September, but her hopes of selection for the ICC tournament beginning February hit a hurdle when she started to struggle with pain in her left knee.

With assurances that the arthroscopic surgery required would leave her enough time to return to full fitness for the World Cup, if selected, Burns elected to go under the knife earlier this month.

"(I didn’t know) whether I was going to be selected for the World Cup or not, but in the end I made the decision to have the operation just to give myself time to get right," Burns explained.

"There was a bit of bone that was causing pain and my knee to lock.

"It positioned itself in a particular point in my knee where I couldn’t really flex it beyond 90 degrees … but the surgeon thought it was going to be pretty easy to get out.

"It was a no-brainer to get it out rather that have it in the back of my mind that it could cause grief during the World Cup.

"It was probably more like a tooth extraction than a knee op, a piece of bone the size of an incisor came out of my knee.

"I was kind of happy it was something of a decent size that came out of there, (to show) I wasn’t making it up."

Presented with the irritating fragment of bone post-surgery, Burns took a photo but was more than happy to then bid it farewell.

Then, a couple of weeks later, came the call she had been hoping for: she had been selected in Australia’s World Cup squad.

"It’s a bit cliché but it’s a dream come true," Burns told cricket.com.au. "It’s been a pretty crazy last 12 months, to be included in the squad with the likes of these players is pretty humbling, hopefully I can get out and play a couple of games in front of a home crowd.

"This is just the icing on the cake, really, to be included for a home World Cup in front of friends family is just a dream."

Burns did not play in Australia’s warm-up game against a Cricket Australia XI earlier this week as she continues to rehabilitate her knee.

But she is with the national squad in Canberra, where she hopes to reach full fitness during the CommBank T20I Tri-Series that is a precursor to the World Cup beginning February 21.

The only downside of the surgery was the fact it further delayed Burns’ long-awaited New South Wales debut.

A NSW native who plied her trade first for Tasmania, then the ACT after being unable to crack the star-studded Breakers, Burns finally found her way back to her state of birth last year.

She had expected to be presented with that long-desired NSW cap in September; instead, she was handed a maiden international call-up for Australia’s tour of the West Indies.

The knee operation put paid to hopes of appearing in January’s matches, and Australian duties will keep her out of the tail-end of the 50-over domestic season, but that’s an outcome the off-spinner and attacking middle-order batter is more than happy to take, given bigger picture.

"That long-awaited Breakers debut will have to wait until next year," Burns laughed.

CommBank T20I tri-series

Australia squad: Meg Lanning (c), Rachael Haynes (vc), Erin Burns, Nicola Carey, Ashleigh Gardner, Alyssa Healy (wk), Jess Jonassen, Delissa Kimmince, Sophie Molineux, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Tayla Vlaeminck, Georgia Wareham

First T20I: January 31, India v England, Manuka Oval

Second T20I: February 1, Australia v England, Manuka Oval

Third T20I: February 2, Australia v India, Manuka Oval

Fourth T20I: February 7, India v England, Junction Oval

Fifth T20I: February 8, Australia v India

Sixth T20I: February 9, Australia v England

Final: February 12, Junction Oval

* All matches will be broadcast on the Seven Network and Fox Cricket, live stream on Kayo and the CA Live app or listen on ABC Grandstand

2020 ICC Women's T20 World Cup

Warm-ups

February 15: Australia v West Indies, Allan Border Field

February 18: Australia v South Africa, Karen Rolton Oval

Tournament

February 21:Australia v India, Sydney Showgrounds

February 24: Australia v Sri Lanka, WACA Ground

February 27: Australia v Bangladesh, Manuka Oval 

March 2: Australia v New Zealand, Junction Oval

March 5: Semi-final 1, SCG

March 5: Semi-final 2, SCG

March 8: Final, MCG

For a full list of all World Cup fixtures, click HERE

* All matches will be broadcast on Fox Cricket and Kayo, while Australia’s matches will also be broadcast on the Nine Network