Naming a really strong and formidable outfit, the Australian selectors have named just one spinner in the squad, and that is the leg-spinner Adam Zampa.
Zampa has already stunned everyone with his similarities with the evergreen spin wizard Shane Warne, as apart from their blonde locks Zampa is also a true leg-spinner, who doesn’t hold back in giving the ball considerable air.
For the upcoming edition of the ICC Champions Trophy, therefore, Zampa’s role has become far crucial. Being placed in a group comprising of hosts England, Trans-Tasman rivals New Zealand and Bangladesh, Zampa will pretty much dictate the crucial middle overs phase.
The three opponents for Australia aren’t typically the best players of spin, and here in store lies a great opportunity for the young leggie to leave a long lasting impression. As a backup, however, Zampa will have the services of part time off spinners Glenn Maxwell and Travis Head.
On the sidelines of a practice session, Zampa opened up about doing well this time around and expected some help from the pitches as the tournament went on.
“I think the general feeling is that the wickets here will slow up in the back end of the tournament,” Zampa said. “I’m preparing for that, but I’m prepared to play every game. We’ve been selecting teams in the last 24 months based on the conditions and with the fire power we have with the ball, it’s always handy to have.”
“The way we’ve selected teams recently, it’s just the conditions,” he added. “I think if the conditions suit, which hopefully they will for me, I’ll play.”You can see a lot of dry wickets in England as well so I think I can have a pretty big role to play in this tournament.”
Speaking about the recently concluded IPL, Zampa admitted that he was indeed outbowled by teammate and world’s number one ODI bowler, Imran Tahir.
“As a team, Pune had a great tournament but personally it didn’t go to plan with Tahir being in the same squad.” “He bowled really well and out-bowled me in the first couple of games that we played together. So I didn’t get the opportunities that I probably would have liked throughout the middle of the tournament, but it’s always a nice experience.”
“It’s always nice to see leg-spinners doing well and there’s been a lot of leg-spinners do well recently in one-day cricket with myself, Tahir and Rashid. “So it’s always nice to get confidence from those guys as well.”