BURNS’ NOTICE TO SELECTORS
THE first century of the Australian summer went to the bloke selectors didn’t want to pick.
Joe Burns went from Average Joe to Smokin’ Joe in one stunning innings yesterday as the Queensland opener booked his ticket for the Ashes tour with a monster unbeaten hundred in Canberra.
At risk of becoming the first Australian side in more than 30 years to go through a home summer without a single batsman making a hundred, Burns and Travis Head broke the dam walls open with an emphatic double dose against a demoralised Sri Lanka.
As much as Burns’ bulldozing 172 not out served as proof that it was an error to not back him from the first Test of the summer against India, Head’s breakthrough 161 was a major tick for the selectors and their instinct for talent.
Trevor Hohns’ panel weren’t too proud to re-evaluate their position on Burns after the Indian series loss, and in turn he nailed his chance as Australia’s team rebuild took its biggest step to date as they powered to 4-384 at stumps.
The epic 308-run stand piled on by Burns and the improving Head broke the record for Australia’s highest partnership against Sri Lanka for any wicket, eclipsing the 260 not out by Steve Waugh and Dean Jones in Hobart in 1989.
It’s just the 22nd triple-century partnership in Australian Test history and has left Burns eyeing records and Kurtis Patterson (25 not out) his own chance to set up his career.
Head came to the crease with Australia on the brink of an embarrassing crisis at 3-28 against the sixth-ranked Sri Lankans supposedly missing their entire first-choice attack.
If coach Justin Langer was having nightmares about losing to Sri Lanka last week, the three soft dismissals must have felt like Armageddon.