One of the reasons for Australia to be successful, in the middle overs in the white-ball formats, is the incredible bowling performance from the veteran leg-spinner Adam Zampa, who is now eyes to push for his debut in the longest format. He claims the development with the red ball despite being part of just three first-class games in this decade.
Australia will be touring Sri Lanka at the start of the next year, where both the games will be really vital for their qualification prospect in the World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-25. Adam Zampa has started to knock on the door of the selectors after he turned for the New South Wales against Tasmania in last week’s Sheffield Shield game in Sydney.
In their first innings of the bowling department, the veteran bowled 27.2 overs and claimed three wickets with an economy rate of 3.5. In the second innings, he backed the decent performance with 1/44 in 13 overs, as they lost the fixture by 55 runs.
The experienced all-rounder of Australia, Glenn Maxwell, has also kept a close eye on the upcoming Sri Lanka. Travis Head has cemented his position on the national side and will be an essential member of the side thanks to his contribution with both bat and ball in hand. Nathan Lyon will be the premier spinner, as the toss-up, will be between Adam Zampa and Maxwell.
Adam Zampa excited to keep doors open for late-career Test debut
Both of them remain unavailable for first-class games due to their white-ball commitment with the national side and the T20 premier leagues around the globe. Zampa’s first shield game since February 2023 was criticized by Ed Cowan and Mark Taylor, who questioned why he was picked ahead of Tanveer Sanga.
“It’s something I’d like to do and challenge myself at. If I got to end my career and it didn’t pan out that way, then I’d be okay with it. I might look back one day and feel like maybe I didn’t give it a 100 percent crack. I feel like playing these games and putting my hand up for the Sri Lanka tour and being keen for that is fine.” Adam Zampa expressed after the game.
The 32-year-old has been part of just 41 FC games since making his debut in 2012 with the help of 115 wickets at an average of over 46 and a strike rate of nearly 12 overs, shouldering on two five-wicket hauls at the best bowling figure of 6/62 in an innings.
There is no certainty if the spinner could be picked to play in the Blues’ next game, another encounter at the SCG against Western Australia early in December. He claimed that he never gave himself a full chance as the lion’s share of the red-ball cricket came at the start of his career.
“I was eager to play a lot of first-class cricket when I was young, but I probably wasn’t good enough or as confident as I am now. I bowled a lot more bad balls than I do know. I wasn’t confident with my reading of the game, whereas now I feel like I can read guys a lot better and have less mental fog.” Adam Zampa explained.
Also Read: Urvil Patel Breaks Rishabh Pant’s Record For Fastest T20 Ton By An Indian; Smacks 28-Ball Century
It’s about having miles in the legs, and the NSW-born feels that if the national selectors opt for a variety of spin along with Lyon and Matt Kuhnemann, then he could have a chance.
“If I do play over there, it’s potentially as a third spinner, maybe one quick, and you play one of each (type of spin). I think you’ll have a (left-arm) finger spinner turning it away from the bat because that tends to have more success in the subcontinent.” Adam Zampa concluded.