Focus on ‘my own skills’ silences all doubters

After ending the second day of the first Ashes Test unbeaten on 125, Rory Burns told how he “literally buried my head in the sand to all sorts of comments and media and that sort of stuff ”.

It was a sharp contrast to scores of six and six against Ireland just a week ago.

“I tried to get myself around the sorts of people, coaches and teammates, that back me,” said Burns.

“I tried to back my own skills and see it as another opportunity to try and nail down a spot.”

The former Australian batsman-turned-selector Mark Waugh tweeted: “Harsh call but Rory Burns looked like he was the nightwatchman,” after Burns’ Ireland showing. “Don’t think he will be playing the Ashes.”

Burns’ brother Liam responded swiftly. “Bore off Mark, he’s got class, a brain and precisely the backbone needed to nullify your pace attack,” he replied, in a prescient tweet.

“He’s rarely out of form and rises to the occasion, so I’d back him to turn it on in the heat of the battle.”

In a brotherly affair, Steve Waugh, the former Australia captain and now batting mentor for this side, soon found himself fronting the press after a draining day in the field for the tourists.

“To tell you the truth, I hadn’t seen a lot of [Burns],” said the elder Waugh, magnanimously.

“His concentration was excellent, he obviously knows his game really well and to get a hundred on that pitch is a good performance in Ashes cricket.

“It was really important for his side, so I give him full credit.

“He certainly played and missed a few times, but you need a little bit of luck. He showed a lot of character today, so he’s got to be proud of that effort.”

Burns played a false shot to 24 per cent of the balls he faced in his innings but that, observed Waugh, with 32 Test centuries to his name, “is Test Match cricket”.

“You’ve got to grind it out and do the hard yards,” added Waugh. “It’s not about how good you look but how many runs you get. So that was a good innings for some of our players to look and learn, for sure.

“On tough Test match wickets, when someone scores runs for the opposition, you have to be smart to analyse how they got those runs and how they went about it.

“When you watch someone get 120 not out, you’ve got to take something from it and put it into your own game.”