Joe Burns Misses T20 World Cup; Italy Names Madsen Captain

“In my experience, we needed to address systems, processes, communication and integrity behind the scenes to give us the best chance on the field. 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.”

“Bizarrely, the Federation is now saying this is because I didn’t agree to the WC (World Cup)/Nov proposal. 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.”