Former Australia head coach Darren Lehmann has extended his support to struggling opener Joe Burns, saying the national team management should pick him given his experience for the upcoming first Day-Night Test against India.
Australia set to take on one of the world’s best bowling attack India in the first Test of the four-Test series at Adelaide Oval without their experienced and swashbuckling opener David Warner, who is currently recovering from a groin injury, and Lehmann feels the hosts need Burns’ experience in the batting line-up.
Burns has been in woeful form with the bat in recent times, as he could manage just 62 runs at 6.89 with the highest score of 29 in his last nine first-class innings and even his poor continued in the recent two warm-up games against India, scoring 4, 0, 0 and 1 in the four innings.
Given his terrible form with the bat, the Australian camp might consider fielding a new opening pair having recalled Marcus Harris to the squad after Will Pucovski, who was to be handed a Test debut in Adelaide, suffered a concussion during a tour game against India A.
Lehmann was quoted as saying by ‘Sydney Morning Herald’: “The one good thing about Joe Burns is his record shows when he does get runs he gets hundreds and that’s a big win in terms of Test-match play. I think they’ll stick with him, but that’s only my personal opinion.
I think they probably should. A lot of people want to change things around and if David Warner was there it might be a bit different for him. But with no Warner, I think you’ve got to have some sort of experience.”
However, despite his horrible run, Lehmann feels there is nothing wrong with sticking with Burns for the first Test since he has the talent and just needs a little bit of luck.
The former coach further explained, “It’s always a tough call picking a side as I know. There are a lot of outside influences. At the end of the day, they’ll just make a call and go with it. There is nothing wrong with sticking with Joe Burns.
He’ll have to get some runs and he probably understands that. But he’s a good player who plays fast bowling pretty well and they’ve got a pretty good fast bowling attack.”
Lehmann signed off by saying, “He just needs a little bit of luck. He hasn’t had much luck, coupled with a couple of indifferent shots. But cricket can turn quite quickly. He’s got a great pull shot, hook shot and can take the game on if needs to and can leave the ball well. The runs will come for Joe if he keeps doing the basics well enough. It’s all mental now I think.”
(With PTI Inputs)
