No short cuts as Burns goes to new lengths to find success

Joe Burns's preparation for the upcoming Vodafone Test Series has taken him from intensive mid-winter study of India's bowling plans to an arduous practice regime on New South Wales' tropical north coast where he's hit "thousands of balls" in recent weeks.

He's even prepared for life within the strict biosecurity bubble he's now entered by cutting his own hair, a job that produced such poor results he was compelled to visit a professional barber who undertook some urgent salvage work.

"He said the only way he could do it was by going really short," Burns said today as he stepped up preparation for Australia A's Test warm-up match against an India A outfit at Sydney's Drummoyne Oval from Sunday.

"So this is me for the summer – it's probably the shortest it's been since high school and it doesn't quite feel natural yet."

Image Id: D11F7486A7E047E5BAE4B75D4C1D1B4E Image Caption: Joe Burns shows off his new locks on a Zoom call

But nowhere along that journey has Burns bought into the hype that he's sorely out of touch and his berth as incumbent Test opener is imperilled even though others eyeing his spot made flying starts to the Marsh Sheffield Shield season.

He understands why his return of 57 runs at an average of 11.40 from the first tranche of Shield matches led critics to question his claims for Test retention, especially with Victoria's opening pair Will Pucovski (495 runs at 247.50) and Marcus Harris (355 at 118.33) in such sublime form.

With all three in the Australia A squad for the upcoming game at Drummoyne and a subsequent day-night fixture against India's likely Test line-up at the SCG, Burns has repeatedly read he's engaged in a three-way 'bat-off' for the openers' roles now thrown wide open by David Warner's injury. 

But the 31-year-old has travelled this road before, having been promoted and discarded by national Test selectors several times since his debut against India six years ago.

And he knows his game and his mind sufficiently well to appreciate he'll never successfully negotiate the path ahead by looking over his shoulder.

"I understand how people might make that assumption around selection, but as a player … you never walk to the crease worrying about how many runs you make or your partner is making," Burns said today.

"It's never a bat-off or anything like that, it's all about going out there and doing your job with your partner and trying to win games of cricket.

"Obviously I've had a bit of a slow start to the summer in the Shield matches we've played, and it's been a little bit frustrating for me personally.

"I think back to the back end of last season, the Shield games we played were on green tops with Dukes balls and I felt like it was the best I've ever batted in my career.

"I got to Adelaide (for the start of this Shield season) and was licking my lips, seeing some flat wickets and hoping to make plenty of runs but just found ways to get out.

"But I reflect on that and I was probably just chasing the game a little bit too much after a lay-off during the winter and getting back into it.

"So the lesson from that is to be a little bit more patient, let the game come and to go from there.

"I feel like my skills are in a good spot, it's just a decision-making thing and I'm looking forward to the challenge of playing against India."

It's not difficult to empathise with Burn's recent frustrations.

Having re-established himself in the Test line-up last summer, which he finished as Australia's third-highest runs scorer behind Warner and Queensland teammate Marnus Labuschagne, Burns devoted the global pandemic shut-down to prepping for the India series ahead.

“Basically during the whole winter, I sat down and went through what the Indian squad was likely to be and what their plans are, and how they get wickets," he said today.

"Not only how to keep them out, but how to score runs off them and the best way to apply pressure to them.

"Every bowling attack is a little bit different, especially guys coming from the subcontinent compared to last summer against New Zealand, so there are different challenges and you have to adapt to give us the best chance to go well."

Then, when the chance to get back to the middle arose last month, he found fortune quickly deserted him.

The right-hander managed seven in his first Shield innings of the summer, a game in which Queensland were required to bat only once, then 29 and a duck against an international-standard NSW attack followed by 10 and 11 against South Australia.

Suddenly, he felt compelled to put away the notes he'd compiled on India's bowlers and instead headed to Byron Bay, the idyllic beach town just south of the Queensland border regarded among Australia's holiday jewels.

But Burns wasn't there to 'chillax' ahead of several gruelling months inside Test and KFC Big Bash League biosecurity bubbles.

Image Id: 6E53791E84454780B50D9470A13E4258 Image Caption: Burns posted this pic to his social media // Instagram

Rather he devoted himself to a demanding practice schedule in the nets at local cricket clubs, enlisting the help of former England allrounder Adam Hollioake (now working as a batting coach with Queensland) to help rediscover the touch he had misplaced in Adelaide.

"We were just training all day, and the key thing I was working on was just patience," Burns said.

"After such a long lay-off, there's always the temptation to want to hit the ball and want to feel like you're in really good rhythm.

"But it's just a reminder that you're at the mercy of the bowler and what's coming down.

"And just having the discipline for long periods of time to absorb pressure, knowing the runs will come from there.

"I've played for a hell of a long time now, so I already know those things.

"It's just probably when you see a flat wicket and feel like you're batting well from the end of last season. you want to get out there and dominate.

"But as an opening batter, sometimes dominating can be batting six, seven or eight hours and getting rewards at the back end of the day.

"So I've faced thousands of balls (in recent weeks) and just tried to face each ball like it's my first one.

"The real basics of the game – if you do the basics well, you can't go too far wrong."

Unless, it seems, you're trying to trim your own locks.

Vodafone Test Series v India 2020-21

Australia Test squad: Tim Paine (c), Sean Abbott, Joe Burns, Pat Cummins, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, James Pattinson, Will Pucovski, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, Matthew Wade, David Warner

India Test squad: Virat Kohli (c) (first Test only), Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Hanuma Vihari, Shubman Gill, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Siraj

Australia A v India A: December 6-8, Drummoyne Oval

Australia A v Indians: December 11-13, SCG (day-night)

First Test: December 17-21, Adelaide Oval, 3pm AEDT (day-night)

Second Test: December 26-30, MCG, 10.30am AEDT

Third Test: January 7-11, SCG, 10.30am AEDT

Fourth Test: January 15-19, Gabba, 11am AEDT