Winning the T20 World Cup was a surreal experience, says upbeat Erin Burns

Australian all-rounder Erin Burns has said that despite not getting to play in any of the matches in the T20 World Cup, it was an experience she cherished and was a dream to be part of the squad that won the tournament for the fifth time.



"It was perfect for me, to watch the way the girls went about it, and finish off so strong,” Burns told cricket.com.au.



"Watching the stands fill up through the build up to the game, and then Katy Perry coming out to do the pre-show, I was in the best seat in the house, there was no pressure on me so I could have a shimmy before the game and try and create a good vibe among the group. To finish off dancing on stage in front of 40 or 50 thousand people with a medal around my neck with one of the biggest pop stars in the world, that was surreal to say the least.”



Burns had missed out on the tri-series that preceded the World Cup due to a knee injury, for which she had to undergo a complicated surgery. Though she was fit enough to be a part of the World Cup squad, lack of match practise kept her out of action throughout the tournament.



"The surgery was a little bit more involved than anticipated so the recovery time ended up being longer than what was forecast," said the 32-year-old.



"That put me back a bit to start with, and not being available for those tri-series games made it difficult to be selected, because I hadn’t played a game of cricket since December.”



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Burns was even more disappointed when the tour to South Africa following the T20 World Cup was cancelled. It was an opportunity for her to keep herself on the radar for the Women's World Cup that was originally scheduled for February 2021 and eventually, postponed to 2022.



"I was just looking forward to getting some games under my belt, to be honest," said Burns, who's played five T20Is and an ODI so far.



"I was a bit disappointed that didn’t go ahead. But given what happened in the world over the next few weeks, we were pretty lucky in retrospect."



Having selected for the upcoming series against New Zealand, the New South Wales all-rounder is looking forward to whatever opportunity that comes her way, as she is keen to keep herself going until 2022.



"I’d love to be included in whatever is coming up, it’s hard to forecast with everything happening… Next year could be a big one in a lead-up to an Ashes, the World Cup and the Commonwealth Games,” Burns concluded.