Burns relaxed about Ashes batting puzzle

Test incumbent Joe Burns hopes injured veteran Usman Khawaja will be fit for the Ashes opener in three weeks' time but if not, he is confident he could fill what would become a vacant No.3 spot.

Khawaja suffered a hamstring strain in Australia's World Cup loss to South Africa in Manchester last Saturday which has seen him ruled out of Thursday's blockbuster semi-final against England and the rest of the campaign.

Australia head coach Justin Langer is optimistic Khawaja will be fit for the Ashes opener starting August 1 in Birmingham, if not the tour match between Australia A and Australia in Southampton from July 23.

But should Khawaja fail to recover in time, Australia could look to his Queensland teammate Burns to fill the role.

With David Warner expected to return at the top of the order for the Ashes, one of incumbent Test duo Marcus Harris and Burns is set to miss out for the opening clash at Edgbaston.

Both Harris (109) and Burns (133) scored centuries in Australia A's ongoing first-class match against Sussex, with the pair combining for a 214-run opening stand to send a signal to on-deck national selector Trevor Hohns they are in fine touch.

But with only one to likely partner Warner, Burns could find himself at first-drop if Khawaja remains out of action.

And while he said he could handle batting at No.3 in the Test team, Burns stressed he wants to see Khawaja in his familiar position against England.

"I feel comfortable anywhere (in the batting order)," Burns said after day three in Arundel. "I've batted in a lot of different positions in the order in the past.

"Hopefully 'Uzzie' is there though.

"He's made that No.3 spot his own and is a really integral part of the Test team.

"As a teammate you don't really want to think like that, you just hope he can get back playing and recover as quickly as possible.

"I was shattered for him. Hopefully it's not too bad. It's a cruel game sometimes."

Burns' innings against Sussex, which lasted more than five-and-a-half hours, was all the more impressive given he only arrived in England last Thursday, having overcome a fatigue disorder which cut short his County Championship stint with Lancashire.

The 29-year-old says the time he spent at home resting kept his focus away from cricket, but now that he's in England and with a bat in his hand his mind is back on track and looking ahead to the Ashes.

While his main competitor for an Ashes berth could be his opening partner Harris, the right-hander doesn't see the friendly rivalry when they're batting together.

"As openers you're always working as a partnership, trying to get through the partnership and helping each other out in the middle," Burns said.

"'Harry' (Harris) has had a tremendous season and done extremely well and made plenty of runs.

"You saw in this game he walks out there, whacks them from ball one.

"There's a lot of players making a lot of runs, it's great signs for Australian cricket and honestly, as players, you just get out there in the middle and work with your partner to try and overcome the opposition.

"You don't really look at each other competing for spots.

"I've always thought that if everyone's making runs, there's a spot for everyone."

Australia A tour of the UK

Get live scores and all the latest news from Australia A's tour of the UK on cricket.com.au and the CA Live app

Australia A one-day squad: Travis Head (c), Matthew Wade, Will Pucovski, Peter Handscomb, Mitch Marsh (vc), D'Arcy Short, Kurtis Patterson, Ashton Agar, Michael Neser, James Pattinson, Josh Hazlewood (vc), Sean Abbott, Andrew Tye

Australia A four-day squad: Tim Paine (c), Marcus Harris, Kurtis Patterson, Will Pucovski, Travis Head (vc), Peter Handscomb, Matthew Wade, Mitch Marsh, Michael Neser, Jon Holland, James Pattinson, Jackson Bird, Josh Hazlewood (vc), Chris Tremain

One-day fixtures:

June 20: Australia A beat Northamptonshire by six wickets

June 23: Australia A beat Derbyshire by seven wickets

June 25: Australia A v Worcestershire, match abandoned

June 30: Australia A beat Gloucestershire by five wickets

July 2: Australia A beat Gloucestershire by nine runs

Four-day fixtures:

July 7-10: Australia A v Sussex, Arundel

July 13-16: Australia A v England Lions, Canterbury

July 23-26: Australia v Australia A, Hampshire