Big Bash let down for Joe Burns as Australian selectors send him packing

Embattled opener Joe Burns has been dropped from the Australian side and sent back to the Big Bash League.

Joe Burns walks off after he was dismissed by India at the MCG Picture: AFP

The makeup of the Australian side for the third Test is as uncertain as the circumstances in which it will be held.

Joe Burns has been dropped from the squad and sent back to the Big Bash League. In some sense it must be a relief to the opener who is out of sorts and needs to rebuild his game and his confidence.

Burns had scored 67 from nine innings this summer but a 51 not out in the second innings at Adelaide saw him picked again for Melbourne.

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David Warner, Will Pucovski and Sean Abbott have been included in the squad and will join the team in Melbourne on Thursday evening.

All three have been cleared of injury, but Pucovski faces further tests to ensure he has completely recovered from another concussion which occurred during a tour game earlier in December.

Warner and Abbott have also completed a quarantine period in Melbourne after coming down to Victoria from Sydney.

Cricket Australia made the brave call to hold the game at the SCG late on Tuesday night having been assured by that state’s Premier and health department that it would be safe to do so.

CA chairman Earl Eddings remained indecisive until the last minute, but was convinced by the state government on a day when the number of positive cases was just three.

Even then he had to convince his board. India, which fancies its chances more in Sydney than anywhere else in the country, was buoyant after a win and agreed readily.

NSW has also tipped in money to cover expenses to meet stricter quarantine conditions in the city.

If the administrators had waited another day you have to wonder if the same decision would have been made. Sydney reported 18 cases on Wednesday as the virus found extra life and expression.

Fans from certain postcodes will be banned from the stadium and entry and exit times staggered.

Masks are not mandatory while seated but shouting and cheering has been discouraged for fear it will spread the disease that has turned life on its head.

Selection has been equally uncertain. The panel persisted with Burns in Adelaide despite six failures leading into the match, proclaimed justification when he scored an unbeaten half century in the second innings but has now dropped him after two more failures suggested that innings was an exception to the rule.

Warner has injured his groin but is willing to risk further injury to come back and help out the side which is one-all and looking frail after defeat in Melbourne.

Pucovski is recovering from his ninth concussion and has to be as big a risk as any taken by the veteran opener or authorities.

Surely he cannot play, but he will be tested by doctors and bouncers in the lead-up to the game and stranger things have happened.

Marcus Harris is in the squad, not tracking too badly and would be a safer option.

Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne and Tim Paine both hit the nets at the MCG on what would have been the fifth day of the match. They and the rest of the squad plan to stay in Melbourne until January 4 before proceeding to Sydney where they will be placed in a strict quarantine so the side can — unlike the residents of that city — cross the border to Queensland for the final match.

“David Warner, Will Pucovski and Sean Abbott will rejoin the squad in Melbourne tomorrow evening in preparation for the Sydney Test,” head selector Trevor Hohns said in a statement released Wednesday afternoon.

“David has made strong progress in his recovery from injury and will be given every chance to play in Sydney with another seven days until the match.

“Sean has fully recovered from a calf strain and is also available for selection.

“Will is in the final stages of the graduated return-to-play protocols and has been symptom free for some time. He will be fit to play in Sydney subject to completing the return-to-play protocols and an independent assessment.

“Joe Burns has been released from the squad and will return to the Brisbane Heat. Unfortunately, Joe’s returns haven’t been what he or the selectors would like or what we consider he is capable of.”

Australian squad

Tim Paine (Tas) (c), Pat Cummins (NSW) (vc), Sean Abbott (NSW), Cameron Green (WA), Josh Hazlewood (NSW), Marcus Harris (Vic), Travis Head (SA), Moises Henriques (NSW), Marnus Labuschagne (Qld), Nathan Lyon (NSW), Michael Neser (Qld), James Pattinson (Vic), Will Pucovski (Vic), Steve Smith (NSW), Mitchell Starc (NSW), Mitchell Swepson (Qld), Matthew Wade (Tas), David Warner (NSW)