Burns thrilled with Renshaw's SCG ton

On a day when David Warner lashed a Test century in a session and Matt Renshaw went big with his maiden ton in the Baggy Green, there was another well-credentialed opening batsman sublimely strutting his stuff in front of the masses.

Joe Burns has hit three Test hundreds over the past 14 months and partnered both Warner and Renshaw in that time at national and state level respectively, but the fact that their combined success comes at his expense has had no effect on the Brisbane Heat No.5, who happily watched his mates cement their status as Australia's new opening duo before hitting an entertaining 51 not out at the Gabba against the Sydney Sixers.

"It was awesome to watch – I had it on all day," Burns told bigbash.com.au of Warner and Renshaw's performances.

"It's great to see the boys playing really well – back to winning ways and carrying on that momentum.

"There was lots of cheering, seeing 'Renners' make his first hundred.

"Playing with him at Queensland and knowing what it feels like personally, to see someone else achieve that is fantastic and I'm sure there's plenty more to come."

In the euphoria of the success of the Renshaw experiment, and with the Test side bouncing back so emphatically from a nightmare beginning to the summer, Burns has quickly become Australian cricket's forgotten man.

This is a batsman who put together a match-winning 170 in Christchurch just last February, only to be dropped six months later after two poor matches, picked again, then dropped again after another pair of failures in Australia's forgettable – yet potentially seminal – Hobart Test against South Africa in November.

Burns' blazing half-century from 33 balls for the Heat in the KFC Big Bash League was a world away from the history and tradition of day one at the Sydney Cricket Ground, but the T20 cricket phenomenon ensured there were more on hand to witness the knock than were present for the Warner-Renshaw show.

"I haven't had too much to do in the first few games, so it was nice to get a few overs (to bat)," the right-hander said.

"I knew at stages of the tournament I'd have more to do in some games than others, so I really wanted to stand up in those ones.

"So I guess it's nice to make 50 … it was actually a really good time to come in."

National selector Mark Waugh was one of the 32,000 in attendance, in his capacity as a Network TEN commentator, and via a flurry of classy stroke-play the batting great was presented with a timely reminder that – despite a lean run in first-class cricket – the talent of Burns is undeniable.

What will frustrate the man himself is that his chances to impress will come only in the T20 format ahead of what looms as Australia's massive Test tour of India next month.

And the 27-year-old has been around long enough to know that some entertaining hitting in Big Bash hit and giggle won't suffice when it comes to consideration for the biggest challenge in world cricket.

Which means he's going to have to bide his time; beyond India, there's a chance Australia will play a Test series in Bangladesh later in the year, but that's it until next summer's Ashes.

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And while a tour of India has broken plenty of batsmen's careers in the past, Burns currently sits behind Shaun Marsh in the pecking order, while his disappointing tour of Sri Lanka hardly builds his case as a subcontinental saviour. 

Yet far from over-analysing where things went wrong for him at the beginning of the summer, or figuring out how he can force his way back into Test reckoning, Burns – who has now been selected and dropped from the Test team a combined total of six times – is viewing his Big Bash experience as the perfect distraction from such matters.

"It's nice to have a change," he said. "It's nice to play in front of a sold-out Gabba game after game.

"Having so much support from the crowd really does take your mind off any kind of selection things that are going on, and allows you just to enjoy playing T20 cricket.

"It's a hell of a lot of fun, it's a great competition and the fans are really getting behind it – so I'm thoroughly enjoying it."