No regrets, but Erin has a burning ambition

Allrounder Erin Burns has no regrets about undergoing knee surgery in the lead-up to Australia’s T20 World Cup campaign, as she prepares for a return to national duties.

Burns has been named in Australia’s 18-player squad to play New Zealand later this month and will travel to Brisbane on Sunday with fellow players and staff from New South Wales, Victoria and the ACT to begin their two-week quarantine.

It is a welcome comeback for Burns, who had arthroscopic surgery to remove a fragment of bone roughly the size of a tooth from her knee in January, shortly before being named in Australia’s T20 World Cup squad.

She was originally due to be fit for the T20 tri-series that served as a warm-up for the ICC tournament, but when the procedure turned out to be more complicated than anticipated, it kept her on the sidelines through the series against India and England.

The off-spinning allrounder remained with the World Cup squad and was fit in time for the opener against India on February 21, but the lack of match practice had robbed her of the chance to claim a spot in Australia’s final XI throughout the tournament.

"The surgery was a little bit more involved than anticipated so the recovery time ended up being longer than what was forecast," Burns explained to cricket.com.au.

"That put me back a bit to start with and not being available for those tri-series games made it difficult to be selected, because I hadn’t played a game of cricket since December.

"I was doing all the rehab and technically by game one or two (of the World Cup) I was up for selection but not having match fitness under my belt, that didn’t work in my favour."

The decision to push ahead with surgery was not taken lightly, Burns said, given the major tournament ahead, and in hindsight she would not change the call that was made.

"I spoke in depth about it with our state and national physios and doctors and with the coaching staff," she said.

"After I injured it, I genuinely couldn’t bend my knee more than 90 degrees.

"There was the potential that bit of bone I’d chipped off could float into a different spot and be okay, but the consensus was at the end of the day the fragment was way too big.

"I knew I needed to get it out, it was just a shame with the surgery being more involved than expected and the recovery time a bit longer."

While the 32-year-old did not take the field through Australia’s successful campaign, the World Cup was nonetheless a major life highlight for Burns – who had the best seat in the house to watch her team thrash India by 85 runs in front of 85,174 people at the MCG, before taking to the stage to dance with Katy Perry in the aftermath.

"It was an awesome experience and an unbelievable squad to be in, and a dream moment to be a part of just in general," she said.

"Watching the stands fill up through build-up to the game and then Katy Perry coming out to do the pre-show, I was in the best seat in the house, there was no pressure on me so I could have a shimmy before the game and try and create a good vibe among the group.

"It was perfect for me, to watch the way the girls went about it and finish off so strong.

"Then to finish off dancing on stage in front of 40 or 50 thousand people with a medal around my neck with one of the biggest pop stars in the world, that was surreal to say the least.

"Now it’s even more surreal, given what’s happened in the last six months or so.

"It still seems like a bit of a dream to be perfectly honest."

Image Id: B8658D759D504FD2862608C172B64BA9 Image Caption: Burns celebrates after Australia's World Cup win // Getty

After a domestic cricket journey that took NSW native Burns to Tasmania and the ACT before finally earning a contract with her home state in 2019, the allrounder made a long-awaited international debut in the West Indies one year ago.

The postponement of Australia’s tour of South Africa in March initially denied her a chance to strengthen her 50-over credentials ahead of the next ODI World Cup – originally scheduled for 2021 but now delayed to 2022 – but the New Zealand series will offer Burns another chance to show why she should be part of longer-term plans for the quadrennial tournament.

"I’d been really looking forward to that, for one because I’ve never been to South Africa and also because the body was just starting to come right there," Burns said.

"I was just looking forward to getting some games under my belt, to be honest, so I was a bit disappointed that didn’t go ahead but given what happened in the world over the next few weeks, we were pretty lucky in retrospect.

"I’d love to be included in whatever is coming up, it’s hard to forecast with everything happening … (but) next year could be a big one in a lead-up to an Ashes, the World Cup and the Commonwealth Games.

"The body is feeling good at the moment, it’s been beneficial for me personally having a bit of relative downtime (this winter) compared to earlier in the year so I’m ready to sink my teeth into it."

The remainder of the Australian squad will joined their quarantined teammates in Brisbane on September 21, ahead of the first T20I at Allan Border Field on September 26.

CommBank T20I and ODI series

Australia squad: Meg Lanning (c), Rachael Haynes (vc), Maitlan Brown, Erin Burns, Nicola Carey, Ashleigh Gardner, Alyssa Healy, Jess Jonassen, Delissa Kimmince, Tahlia McGrath, Sophie Molineux, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry*, Megan Schutt, Molly Strano, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Wareham, Belinda Vakarewa *subject to fitness

New Zealand squad: Sophie Devine (c), Suzie Bates, Natalie Dodd, Deanna Doughty, Lauren Down, Maddy Green, Holly Huddleston, Hayley Jenson, Amelia Kerr, Jess Kerr, Rosemary Mair, Katey Martin, Hannah Rowe, Amy Satterthwaite, Lea Tahuhu, Jess Watkin

All matches to be played at Brisbane's Allan Border Field, times TBC

September 26: First T20 

September 27: Second T20

September 30: Third T20

October 3: First ODI

October 5: Second ODI

October 7: Third ODI