{"id":21284,"date":"2025-12-18T09:00:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T07:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jhb-webdevelopers\/channelafrica\/news\/burns-fired-as-italys-captain-months-before-t20-world-cup\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T16:32:23","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T14:32:23","slug":"burns-fired-as-italys-captain-months-before-t20-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/burns-fired-as-italys-captain-months-before-t20-world-cup\/","title":{"rendered":"Burns fired as Italy&#8217;s Captain months before T20 World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"uSg02\">\n<div class=\"DrnCK\">\n<div class=\"HwXOf\">\n<div class=\"kcAOr t9ThB\" data-testid=\"RecipientWell\">\n<div data-tabster=\"{&quot;mover&quot;:{&quot;cyclic&quot;:false,&quot;direction&quot;:2,&quot;memorizeCurrent&quot;:false}}\">\n<div class=\"___sj378o0 fly5x3f f1l02sjl f113hnb5\">\n<div class=\"EditorClass ___ok1c3p0 ftgm304 fr7e4de f1ids18y f1ohdurq f1fa7rqs f1ee13vk fkhj508 f1hu3pq6 f11qmguv fly5x3f f1g0x7ka fhxju0i f1qch9an f1cnd47f f19f4twv f1tyq0we fz5stix g7toD\" tabindex=\"-1\" role=\"edit\" aria-multiline=\"true\" aria-readonly=\"true\" aria-label=\"To: Sithakazelo Dlamini\">\u200bThe 36-year-old Burns, who played 23 Tests for Australia, led Italy in the World Cup qualifiers where they secured a place at the global tournament with wins over Guernsey and Scotland. The Italian Cricket Federation (FCRI) have subsequently announced Wayne Madsen, the veteran Derbyshire batter, as captain for a series against Ireland and the T20 World Cup.<\/div>\n<div tabindex=\"-1\" role=\"edit\" aria-multiline=\"true\" aria-readonly=\"true\" aria-label=\"To: Sithakazelo Dlamini\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"EditorClass ___ok1c3p0 ftgm304 fr7e4de f1ids18y f1ohdurq f1fa7rqs f1ee13vk fkhj508 f1hu3pq6 f11qmguv fly5x3f f1g0x7ka fhxju0i f1qch9an f1cnd47f f19f4twv f1tyq0we fz5stix g7toD\" tabindex=\"-1\" role=\"edit\" aria-multiline=\"true\" aria-readonly=\"true\" aria-label=\"To: Sithakazelo Dlamini\">The board did not give an official reason for Burns&#8217; axing but said in a statement the decision &#8220;responds to the need to ensure stability, harmony, and continuity for the team, elements deemed to be priorities over short-term objectives&#8221;<\/div>\n<div tabindex=\"-1\" role=\"edit\" aria-multiline=\"true\" aria-readonly=\"true\" aria-label=\"To: Sithakazelo Dlamini\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div role=\"document\" aria-labelledby=\"UniqueMessageBody_17\" data-test-id=\"mailMessageBodyContainer\">\n<div id=\"UniqueMessageBody_17\" class=\"XbIp4 jmmB7 customScrollBar GNqVo allowTextSelection OuGoX\" tabindex=\"0\" data-fui-focus-visible=\"\">\n<div class=\"BIZfh\">\n<div class=\"rps_47d1\">\n<div dir=\"ltr\">\n<div>&#8211;SABC&#8211;<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":16345,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[20],"class_list":["post-21284","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-sport","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Joe Burns has been axed as Italy Captain and dropped from the squad just months before their maiden appearance at the T20 World Cup, which will be co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka","published_date":"2025-12-18 00:00:00","news_description":"Joe Burns has been axed as Italy Captain and dropped from the squad just months before their maiden appearance at the T20 World Cup, which will be co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/21284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/21284\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25013,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/21284\/revisions\/25013"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=21284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}