Cricket: Burns' Bugs Bunny secret

Joe Burns has been offered a lucrative carrot sponsorship deal. Photo / Getty Images

Seeing the ball in cricket is a fairly important skill for any batsman and the mother of Australia opener Joe Burns insists his carrot eating has helped his career.

Burns, who made 71 opening Australia's innings yesterday at the Gabba, ate carrots from the time he played for Queensland to improve his eyesight.

Carrots have been proven, under certain conditions, to make Vitamin A and improve eyesight, particularly in low light.

"Now it is probably going to be known internationally that I always recommended carrots for his eyesight,'' Grazia Burns told the Daily Telegraph. "While people might pooh-pooh the idea, it is actually true. I am sure it has given him better eyesight than other batsmen. He is a carrot eater from way back."

It now seems Burns will have more carrots than Bugs Bunny. A Queensland carrot farming company has approached Burns' manager to offer him a sponsorship deal.

"We love meeting people who share our passion for the orange veg so when we read about Joe Burns' love for carrots we knew we had to make contact," Kalfresh boss Richard Gorman told the Daily Telegraph. "Like Joe's mum, Grazia, we know that carrots are beneficial in so many ways.

"When the test is over, we'd love to chat to Joe about supplying him with all of the carrots he needs to make sure the Aussie team stays on top. And if Joe doesn't always feel like eating his carrots we've even developed a carrot beer with an Ipswich craft beer company. Perhaps Joe and I can chat about carrots over a cool carrot beer."

Burns apparently sometimes eats oysters before matches in the belief the high zinc levels of the molluscs will benefit his athletic preparations and once on an under-19 tour of England had the team bus stop so he could buy a bag of carrots.

- nzherald.co.nz