page_title: Mike Burns (cricketer)
section_title: Limited opportunities at Warwickshire
hierarchical_section_title: Mike Burns (cricketer) / Career / Limited opportunities at Warwickshire
caption_attribution_description: The pavilion at en:Fenner's en:cricket ground, en:Cambridge. Taken by myself, Stephen Turner on en:15 April en:2007.
context_page_description: Michael Burns is an English first-class list cricket umpire and former first-class cricketer who played county cricket for Warwickshire and Somerset in a first-class career which spanned from 1992 until 2005. He also played Minor Counties cricket for Cumberland and Cornwall. An adaptable cricketer, he appeared for Cumberland and Warwickshire as a wicket-keeper, but when he moved to Somerset he developed into an aggressive batsman who bowled at medium-pace when needed.
  Burns started his cricket career with Cumberland in 1988, but moved to Warwickshire in late 1990. He struggled to break into the first team with his new county, and spent most of his time with the club playing in the second team. As a wicket-keeper, his opportunities were limited by the presence of Keith Piper, and he failed to make an impact as a batsman when he was given chances in the first team. He only started to play regularly for the county in 1996, but opted to move to Somerset the following year.
  For Somerset, Burns passed 1,000 first-class runs in a season twice, and was part of the team which won the 2001 Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy.
context_section_description: After initially playing club cricket for Vickerstown, Burns moved to Netherfield Cricket Club, where he played alongside Dermot Reeve, the club's professional player. Reeve was impressed by an innings in which Burns scored a half-century, and arranged for Warwickshire to offer him a trial. Burns scored 83 runs in his trial match, and signed a contract shortly thereafter. At the end of that 1990 season, Burns played a second-team match for Warwickshire; the following season he made his debut in professional cricket for the county, playing a Benson & Hedges Cup match against Essex. He batted at number eight and kept wicket in a narrow loss for Warwickshire. He spent the remainder of the season playing for the county's second team, for whom he scored a number of half-centuries, with a top score of 93, scored against Worcestershire's seconds in a one-day match. He got his first opportunities in first-class cricket near the start of the 1992 season, making his debut in the format against Cambridge University in May. During his only batting innings, he scored 78 runs, and he also claimed two catches and a stumping. He was selected to play in the County Championship match a week later against Glamorgan, but in a match dominated by the spin of Robert Croft he was dismissed for scores of three and four. He returned to play in the second team for most of the season, though he played one further first-team match in August; appearing as a specialist batsman, Burns scored one run against Durham. In a late season second team match against Lancashire seconds, Burns scored 165 runs in the first innings of a drawn match.
  Burns had more first team opportunities during the 1993 season, due to a series of hand injuries to the first-choice wicket-keeper, Keith Piper. Burns' chances came particularly in one-day cricket; he appeared in eleven List A matches during the year. He scored 151 runs across nine batting innings at an average of 25.16, and reached his highest score of the season, 48 not out, against the touring Zimbabweans in September. Despite making another large century for the second team, scoring 172 against Yorkshire seconds, he struggled in first-class cricket; in six appearances he averaged just 9.60 for his 96 runs. The following year, his only first-class match was against Oxford University, with Piper ever-present in the County Championship. Burns continued to be selected as a wicket-keeper batsman in one-day cricket, though he was less successful than the previous year, scoring 86 runs at 10.75.
  In 1995, Burns was given a prolonged run in the Warwickshire team, playing both first-class and one-day cricket throughout April and May; he failed to impress during these matches, recording a highest score of 35 and averaging well under twenty in both forms of the game. He spent the rest of the season playing for the second team. Some strong performances for the seconds at the start of the 1996 season, including scores of 77 and 81 not out in a match against the Marylebone Cricket Club Young Cricketers, and a finger injury suffered by Piper, saw him regain a place in the Warwickshire first team in June. He remained in the first team for the rest of the season, playing as a specialist batsman when Piper returned to the side, and scored three half-centuries in first-class cricket, including his highest first-class score to that point, 81 runs scored against Nottinghamshire, during a match in which he also remained 65 not out in the second innings.
caption: Burns made his first-class debut at Fenner's cricket ground in Cambridge.
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