“I am honoured to take on this role and represent Italy on the international stage,” Burns said in a statement. “For me, it is a return to my family’s roots. Italian cricket has enormous potential and I am excited to contribute to its growth. Together with my team-mates, we are working to achieve ambitious goals and make our fans proud.”

Fabio Marabini, president of the Italian Cricket Federation, backed Burns to succeed in the leadership role. “Since day one, Joe has shown great generosity and professionalism, putting his experience and competitive spirit at the disposal of the team,” he said. “His choice as captain reflects our ambition to take Italian cricket to new levels. We are also counting on his leadership to play a leading role in the next qualifying stages for the 2026 T20 World Cup.”

In his previous coming, as an Australia Test opener, Burns had scored 1442 runs from 40 innings across 23 matches – between December 2014 and December 2020 – hitting four centuries and averaging 36.97.