Burns loses Italy captaincy and out of T20 World Cup

Joe Burns has been stripped of the Italy captaincy and left out of their plans for their debut appearance at the T20 World Cup next year.

Former Australia opener Burns, 36, led Italy through qualifying to secure a spot at the 20-team tournament in India and Sri Lanka, which starts on 7 February.

However, the Italian Cricket Federation (FCRI) has announced Derbyshire batter Wayne Madsen, 41, has now replaced Burns.

The FCRI added Burns will not be selected as part of Italy's squad for the 2026 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," a FCRI statement read.

The FCRI did not provide specific details as to why Burns had been stripped of the captaincy and will not be selected for the T20 World Cup.

However, it did state the decision had been taken to "ensure stability, harmony and continuity for the team" and was made "solely in the interest of the national team's preparation and serenity ahead of this historic event".

The statement added the FCRI "will not comment further on individual matters" though the organisation did also express its "sincere thanks" to Burns for his role in "an important chapter" in Italian cricket.

Burns, who played 23 Tests and six one-day internationals for Australia between 2014 and 2020, is eligible to represent Italy through his mother's heritage.

He announced he would represent Italy as a tribute to his late brother in May 2024.

Burns played eight T20s for Italy, scoring an unbeaten century in the Europe Qualifier Group A final against Romania.

Italy then picked up two wins over Guernsey in the Europe Regional Final group, which proved enough to secure second place behind the Netherlands and a World Cup spot.

South Africa-born Madsen first played for Derbyshire in 2009 under an Italian passport, courtesy of his Italian grandmother.

He played four T20s for Italy in their unsuccessful bid to qualify for the 2024 T20 World Cup but was not part of the team for the 2026 qualifying.

What should have been one of the heartwarming stories of Italy reaching a World Cup for the first time has turned sour.

This may come as surprise to many, given Italy have a relatively small pool of players to choose from and Burns is, on paper, likely among their best 15 players.

But behind the scenes relations between Burns and the Italian federation have been strained for some time over a variety of issues.

The cracks were evident in July when Burns made a curious comment during the post-match presentation in The Hague after Italy had qualified. It got lost amid the euphoria of the Azzurri's triumph but Burns cast doubt on his involvement in the World Cup.

The issues are understood to not be strictly limited to Burns' participation for the Italy national team alone, but matters were brought to a head last month when it came to discussions over a contract to play in the World Cup. Burns is said to be adamant he accepted the deal, and has evidence to prove it. But that version is disputed by the Italian federation.

What has followed in the past few weeks is claim and counter claim from both sides and a rift that sources from both sides say is unlikely to be healed.