Having led Italy to their maiden World Cup qualification, the European staff’s Australia-born captain Joe Burns desires to “jump in at the deep end” through the T20 showpiece next 12 months by taking up defending champions India in the opening match itself.
Italy made the reduce for the occasion in India and Sri Lanka next 12 months with a strong exhibiting in the European Qualifiers that concluded earlier this month. The attracts for the World Cup are nonetheless a while away from being finalised.
“You come to your first World Cup and you want the big stage. I’d love to be playing India in the first game in India,” Burns instructed ICC Digital.
“I’d love to be playing Australia, England or all the top teams, that’s the experience that you’re after. You want to test yourself, you want to really jump in at the deep end,” he added.
Burns mentioned qualifying for the match was nonetheless a “surreal” feeling for him.
“A lot of planning and preparation went into it (qualifying). So it’s satisfying from that aspect from the cricket side as well,” he mentioned.
He mentioned the whole course of was emotional for him and for the remaining of the staff.
“We did one week training camp in Rome, one week in the UK, and I said to them the first day in Rome, ‘I don’t care if we’re playing Luxembourg in the first Sub-Regional game or India in a World Cup Final. I just want us to be the most prepared team in world cricket’…,
A former Australia player with four Test centuries to his credit, Burns made it to the Italian squad due to his mother’s heritage. It helped him pull through a personally challenging phase which included dealing with the death of his brother Dominic.
“For me, it was a possibility to unite household and cricket, and I believe for our group, everybody has a very comparable story to that.
“We did a great culture piece in Rome (in the build-up to the Qualifier), about who we are, where we come from, understanding each other’s families and sacrifices made…,” he mentioned.
Former Canada worldwide John Davidson is the top coach of the staff, with ex-Scotland worldwide Dougie Brown and Ireland star Kevin O’Brien as his assistants.
“I’ve seen a group of players who have grown and developed into a really close-knit group,” O’Brien mentioned.
“That can be difficult with players coming from different parts of the world but the common joining force with this squad is the Italian heritage.
“I’ve seen the fellows enhance, and that’s not solely with their cricket abilities, it is all the opposite issues that you simply want to achieve success in International cricket, like angle, health, consciousness, cricket smarts, and work ethic,” he added.
