Returning batsman Joe Burns has described the Ashes as an Australian cricketer's equivalent of the Olympics as he makes a late run to retain his opening spot in the Test team.

Speaking for the first time since he returned home from a brief stint with Lancashire in the UK in May due to what was later diagnosed as a fatigue disorder, Burns said he was feeling "a hell of a lot better" after being stricken by the ailment throughout the 2018-19 season.

"The back-end of the home summer I was really struggling," he said at Brisbane Airport on Wednesday ahead of flying out to join the Australia A squad in the UK.

"I put it down to general fatigue – I didn't link it back to the fact I'd been sick at the start of the summer.

"I actually originally thought I was just getting old.

Burns celebrates a half-century for Queensland in the latter stages of the Australian summer // Getty

"The season was really tough physically. I was constantly drained and I was just trying to push through it all summer and hopefully get to the end of the season and try and refresh from there.

"It was when I got to Lancashire and felt the exact same way, I did my medical with Lancs actually and it shed a bit of light with what was going on."

Burns made his fourth Test hundred – a Test-best 180 in Canberra – after being recalled for the Sri Lanka series in late January and finished the Australian summer as the seventh-highest run-scorer in the Sheffield Shield.

Full highlights of Burns' majestic 180

As he struggled with the symptoms of an undiagnosed issue, he determined the best course of action was simply to press on. He has since learned that was a mistake; his recovery since leaving Lancashire has been based solely around rest.

"During that time, the hardest thing was knowing that you feel that way without understanding why," he said.

"So to get diagnosed, to get some clarity and to approach it in an entirely different way – rather than trying to push through, understanding that your body needs some rest – and just feeling a hell of a lot better now, all of that adds up to just wanting to get out on the field."

Given Burns was not initially named in the Australia A squad due to his Lancashire deal, the decision to fly him in for the red-ball leg of the UK tour indicates selectors are at the very least keen to provide him with an opportunity to prove his credentials in the UK against the Dukes ball. Had they been content with the likes of Marcus Harris and Cameron Bancroft as their options to join David Warner at the top of the order for the first Ashes Test at Edgbaston, they could well have left him at home.

Instead, he looks likely to join that trio as an opener in what is looming as a decisive Australia XI v Australia A selection match at the end of this month.

Australia A maintain unbeaten run in England

"I'm very thankful for the opportunity," Burns said. "It was always going to be tough with no prescribed cricket coming up so I'm glad the selectors could find some cricket for me.

"Something like the Ashes, it's almost like the Olympic Games, so I knew I would've had to be really struggling not to get up for this.

QUICK SINGLE Langer keeps Ashes door open for Burns

"What gave me a lot of confidence was the fact I was able to get through the whole last summer with the same symptoms, and the mindset that I'm only going to be better than last summer, but also with an understanding as to why I was feeling that way."

Including his one-off appearance with Lancashire this year, Burns has played nine first-class matches in England, with stints in 2012 (three matches) and 2015 (five matches) for 443 runs at 31.64, with four fifties.

Australia A tour of the UK

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Australia A one-day squad: Travis Head (c), Matthew Wade, Will Pucovski, Peter Handscomb, Mitch Marsh (vc), D'Arcy Short, Kurtis Patterson, Ashton Agar, Michael Neser, James Pattinson, Josh Hazlewood (vc), Sean Abbott, Andrew Tye

Australia A four-day squad: Tim Paine (c), Marcus Harris, Kurtis Patterson, Joe Burns, Will Pucovski, Travis Head (vc), Peter Handscomb, Matthew Wade, Mitch Marsh, Michael Neser, Jon Holland, James Pattinson, Jackson Bird, Josh Hazlewood (vc), Chris Tremain

One-day fixtures:

June 20: Australia A beat Northamptonshire by six wickets

June 23: Australia A beat Derbyshire by seven wickets

June 25: Australia A v Worcestershire, match abandoned

June 30: Australia A beat Gloucestershire by five wickets

July 2: Australia A beat Gloucestershire by nine runs

Four-day fixtures:

July 7-10: Australia A v Sussex, Arundel

July 13-16: Australia A v England Lions, Canterbury

July 23-26: Australia v Australia A, Hampshire