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As the best one-day leg-spinner in the world and a key player in Sunday\u2019s World Cup final against India, Adam Zampa is driven in part by the pain of never making it as a red-ball cricketer.<\/p>\n
His 22 wickets in India beats the best haul Shane Warne ever managed at a World Cup. Zampa, 31, is ranked No.3 among the world\u2019s leading one-day bowlers and equal seventh in T20 internationals. By contrast, he has a first-class bowling average of 47 and has played just two Sheffield Shield matches in the last four years.<\/p>\n
A NSW junior from the Illawarra who grew up dreaming of wearing the baggy green, Zampa made his Shield debut for NSW as a 20-year-old, claiming 10 wickets in three games at an average of 24. The following season he moved to South Australia to make way for Australian spinner Nathan Lyon, who wanted to return home to NSW after working on the Adelaide Oval ground staff.<\/p>\n
Over the next seven seasons, Zampa became an established member of Australia\u2019s white-ball side, but his four-day game did not progress at the same rate. He claimed 95 wickets in 35 Shield games at an average of 51 before returning to the Blues in 2020.<\/p>\n
\u201cI definitely I feel like if I was to have to go and play a lot of four-day cricket now, the results would be much better,\u201d said Zampa, played two four-day matches for NSW last season, claiming six wickets at an average of 25. \u201cI played a couple of games last season and I felt much more in control of what I was doing. I could adapt to the game a lot better.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the baggy green dream has now faded. The mythology of Australia\u2019s Test cap is a beacon for every hopeful young cricketer and without one you were not supposed to be the complete player.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was tough,\u201d a reflective Zampa told this masthead heading into Sunday\u2019s final at Ahmedabad, where Australia will be chasing a sixth World Cup title against the host nation, who are raging hot favourites.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
No Australian spinner has taken more wickets at a World Cup than Adam Zampa.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Getty<\/cite><\/p>\n \u201cI always felt like my bowling was going to get better, and I was going to develop as a four-day cricketer, but I had a rough time of it. Whether or not it helped me with my resilience, I\u2019m not 100 per cent sure.<\/p>\n \u201cBut I look back on that time and think I was nowhere near the bowler that I am now. There will always be questions like, \u2018Do you still want to play Test cricket? And then people will question that with, \u2018Well his record\u2019s shit, he doesn\u2019t deserve it\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cI look back and wish that I hadn\u2019t maybe played as much four-day cricket as I was back then, but it\u2019s all led to what I am now as a cricketer, so I can\u2019t really judge it too harshly.\u201d<\/p>\n The ultimate example is David Warner, who played his first game for Australia as a Twenty20 cricketer before his initial Sheffield Shield match for NSW. Yet, Warner made it clear from the outset that Test cricket was his goal and his priority.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was just a tough time, the first part of my first-class career, but even back then I was able to adapt straight into white-ball cricket,\u201d Zampa said. \u201cI was always better at T20, and as a white-ball bowler generally. My List A [one-day] stuff was always really good for South Australia, and even when I was younger with NSW. Naturally, I was just better at it.\u201d<\/p>\n Zampa\u2019s captain for much of his short form international career, Aaron Finch, was in a similar position, struggling to get a regular match in Victoria\u2019s Sheffield Shield team during the early part of his journey before carving an imposing white-ball career as a devastating batsman and proactive captain.<\/p>\n Zampa believes his white-ball success is not only based on skills but stubbornness.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve always been the one to keep the receipts,\u201d he said. \u201cLike if someone thinks I\u2019m not up for it, or someone says something about me that I disagree with, I\u2019ll do whatever I can to try and prove them wrong.<\/p>\n \u201cThen there is the stubbornness in wanting my spot and wanting to win games for Australia, naturally being really competitive and playing with pride. Pride in my performance and in playing for Australia and wanting to win games and win World Cups. There\u2019s a will that\u2019s been around for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n Zampa was Australia\u2019s most important player in their inaugural T20 World Cup triumph in 2021 and is hoping to complete the same again on Sunday.<\/p>\n One of Zampa\u2019s more relaxing pastimes may prove particularly beneficial in the 130,000-capacity Narendra Modi Stadium, where peace of mind will be washed away by a cacophony from rapturous Indian fans willing their team to victory.<\/p>\n The pulsating wall of noise will be a far cry from the serenity of the Himalayas, where Zampa and his young family spent a few days earlier in the tournament breathing in the clear mountain air.<\/p>\n \u201cIt drives my wife mad, but I\u2019ll do basically anything if it\u2019s possible to get into a natural body of water,\u201d said Zampa, highlighting yet again that wrist spinners are different. \u201cWhether it\u2019s the ocean, whether it\u2019s like right up there [in the mountains] and it\u2019s a freezing-cold river, I\u2019ll base my whole day around trying to get into freezing cold water.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a Zen kind of moment. You go into say the cold ocean for swim and you get out and you\u2019re like, \u2018I really feel refreshed.\u2019 It\u2019s the best feeling, but trying to get that in India, it can be really hard.\u201d<\/p>\n Zampa, Josh Inglis and Sean Abbott stayed on in Dharamshala with their families after the New Zealand match instead of going to Ahmedabad to play in a squad golf tournament with 20 players and staff.<\/p>\n \u201cThe thought of spending time in Dharamshala in the hills and that Tibetan style of life was really nice,\u201d Zampa said. \u201cI had the family with me and we were staying up in the hills with a view of the Himalayas; it was an easy choice to want to spend a bit more time out there.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd it was much-needed at the time because it\u2019s been a long tour. It was great to have a few days just to unwind and decompress.\u201d<\/p>\n There has been little time to unwind and decompress flipping from Australia\u2019s tense three-wicket semi-final victory over South Africa on Thursday to Sunday\u2019s final.<\/p>\n And Zampa has much to think about following a rare hiccup during an otherwise brilliant World Cup, failing to take a wicket in the semi-final while conceding eight an over. The only other side he failed to take a wicket against was Sunday\u2019s opponents India in the opening match.<\/p>\n Zampa was the tournament leader with 22 wickets until Mohammed Shami snuck past him with a seven-wicket haul in last Wednesday\u2019s semi-final against New Zealand.<\/p>\n Those are Warne-esque areas. The best haul the King had at a World Cup was 20 in 1999, while Zampa broke Brad Hogg\u2019s Australian record of 21 from the 2007 tournament.<\/p>\n One more wicket on Sunday and he will equal Muttiah Muralidaran\u2019s all-time spinners\u2019 record of 23 for a World Cup, also set in 2007, but he is hoping for many more.<\/p>\n Watch the World Cup final live and free on Nine, 9Gem and 9Now.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n Sports news, results and expert commentary.<\/i><\/b> Sign up for our Sport newsletter<\/i><\/b>.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\nMost Viewed in Sport<\/h2>\n
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