Burns flies out to resume Ashes push

Queensland batsman Joe Burns flew to England on Wednesday to immediately resume his push for Ashes selection, having been cleared to return to play after a chronic fatigue disorder.

Burns returned to Australia's Test side in the Domain Test series against Sri Lanka earlier this year, posting a career-best 180 in Canberra, and had expected to prepare for the Ashes playing with county powerhouse side Lancashire.

But his UK stint was cut short after just one match. The right-hander flew home early last month and, after undergoing medical tests, was diagnosed with a protracted post-infectious fatigue disorder dating back to a viral infection that first afflicted him in October 2018.

The illness threw his Ashes plans into disarray but Burns revealed yesterday he had been training with his Queensland teammates for the past fortnight and was cleared to return to cricket, with today's announcement that he would join the Australia A squad in the UK.

"I'm looking forward to it," the 30-year-old said from Brisbane Airport. "The last few weeks there was probably a bit of uncertainty, but it's nice now to get a medical clearance and have some cricket laid out in front of me, and all systems go. So I'm looking forward to getting back to the UK, getting stuck in.

"The hardest thing is when you do have the uncertainty. I had symptoms for a long time, so I knew that something wasn't right, but to get the diagnosis and then work with some specialists and get the support from Cricket Australia to get myself right and get back into training, as soon as you have that certainty it makes it a lot easier.

"I'm very thankful for the opportunity. It was always going to be tough with no prescribed cricket coming up so I'm glad the selectors could find some cricket for me."

Image Id: https://www.cricket.com.au/~/media/News/2019/06/4Burns-Lancs-embed?la=en&hash=355AEC92A2EA8366DA3C8E349663F401F207B7BD Image Caption: Joe Burns gets off the mark for Lancashire in his one game // Supplied

Burns will link up with the Australia A squad in Brighton ahead of the squad's first four-day match against Sussex in nearby Arundel from Sunday.

Given the tight turnaround, it would make Burns unlikely to face Sussex but he could make his cricket comeback against the England Lions in Canterbury starting July 14.

"I've got plenty of cricket to still play," he said. "I've been doing a lot of training and the benefit is I've been to the UK plenty of times so I know the conditions.

"It's just a matter of trying to show that you're at the top of your game. It's going to be a really challenging series, so if selected you need to be playing your best cricket."

Australia A play their third and final four-day match against an Australian XI in Southampton from July 23-26, with the Ashes squad set to be named at the conclusion of that match.

National Selector Trevor Hohns is traveling with the 'A' team to keep a watchful eye on the Test incumbents and aspirants in the squad, which now includes Burns. 

"It’s good news that Joe is back to full fitness and given that he’s had the okay to resume playing and has been training at full tilt with Queensland we’ve decided to add him to the squad for the upcoming four-day games to give him the opportunity to press for selection in the Ashes squad," Hohns said.

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 v Gloucestershire, Bristol

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