DINNER WITH 2005 HEROES WAS KEY

ENGLAND opener Rory Burns marked his Ashes debut with a superb hundred, then admitted he felt ‘ready to run through a brick wall’ after dining with the legendary 2005 winners on the eve of the series. Burns, who finished the second day of the first Test unbeaten on 125 as England reached a healthy 267 for four in reply to Australia’s 284, said: ‘The night before, I probably played my first ball a few times and probably celebrated a hundred a few times. To get over the line today is a wonderful feeling. ‘It’s quite an attritional wicket and that suits how I go about my business. It was just nice to keep going and stay on the treadmill and be as stubborn as I could.’ Burns had been written off in many quarters after a double failure in last week’s Test against Ireland took his average to a lowly 22 from seven matches. But he sought out a figure he had known since the age of six: Surrey academy coach Neil Stewart, brother of the club’s director of cricket Alec. The move paid dividends. ‘I just asked him what he reckoned and he had a few thoughts for me. I tried to get a bat in hand as much as I could. It was just about staying true to what’s got me here.’ Burns said that hearing the Barmy Army sing his name to the tune of a song once reserved for Alastair Cook was ‘pretty cool’. ‘To be an Ashes cricketer in the first place is a wonderful thing,’ he said. ‘We connected with some of the 2005 winners the night before and I was ready to run through a brick wall at that stage and get right in among it. ‘The Hollies Stand was rocking when I was in the 90s and to get over the line there with a quick dash will be a pretty special memory. Hopefully, I’ve still got a few more left in me.’ Burns even earned some praise from former Australia captain Steve Waugh, here as a mentor for the tourists. ‘He knows his game well and to get a hundred on that pitch is a really good performance in Ashes cricket,’ said Waugh.