Joe Burns, who left Australia to play cricket for Italy, was on Wednesday sacked from Italy’s T20 World Cup Squad. The Italian Cricket Federation had named Wayne Madsen as captain, confirming that Burns will
not be a part of the campaign next year in India and Sri Lanka.
“The Federation can confirm that Joe Burns will not be selected as part of Italy’s squad for the upcoming ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. Although preliminary exchanges of availability took place in recent weeks, a full agreement was never reached and, consequently, a formal contract was not signed,” the board said in a statement.
A day after his shocking snub, it has been learned that Burns parted ways after asking it to address off-field principles.
According to The Australian, Burns texted his Italian teammates back in November about his decision and went on to make some shocking revelations. In one of the text messages, he said that the Italian Cricket Federation had told him that his standards were higher than the board’s.
“In my experience, we needed to address systems, processes, communication and integrity behind the scenes to give us the best chance on the field,” Burns wrote to his teammates on November 12, The Australia reported.
“Advocacy can be tough, but that’s the weight of responsibility. Their response was that my standards were above the standards of Italian cricket.”
“Since then, a lot of inaccurate and disparaging information has been circulated about me, and used as an excuse for poor operations. The reality of events has been misrepresented and, as a result, many have been misinformed — even if not intentionally.”
“Please know my intentions have always been to look after you boys like brothers and to help us become the best team we can be.”
Burns further addressed the contract negotiations, including how he knocked back extra money to lead the side.
“Bizarrely, the Federation is now saying this is because I didn’t agree to the WC (World Cup)/Nov proposal,” Burns continued.
“To be clear – I accepted their proposal on three separate occasions, which was for less payment than pre-qualifying.”
“The WC component was to follow MOU terms. I had also previously declined a proposed captain’s bonus because I didn’t think that role should be profited from.”
“For months, I’ve wanted to focus on the cricket. I’ve got pages of notes on roles, strategy and training ideas that I was keen to get stuck into with you all, but the inefficiencies had gone on too long.”
Lastly, Burns thanked his teammates for their support during a difficult 2024 and offered to provide future guidance.
“And a special thank you to the Rome 2024 group — the support, connection and purpose we shared helped my family and me through a really tough time, more than you guys realise,” he said.
