NEWS
Follow UsAdam Zampa bowled a magnificent spell on June 8 (Saturday) that saw him dismiss England openers Phil Salt and Jos Buttler in quick succession to tilt the game in Australia favour. Chasing 202, Salt and Buttler put on 73 inside seven overs before the leg-spinner stuck.
Zampa was also awarded the Player of the Match for his performance, finishing with 2/28 in the end. He was one of those players, who pulled out of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024, to be ready and fit for the T20 World Cup. But that meant that he did not have enough game time under his belt. He last played a competitive game in February this year, turning up against New Zealand.
Since then, he has just had a couple of warm-up game before the marquee event.
"I made that decision a little while ago to pull out of the IPL and I thought it was the best thing for me moving forward into this World Cup. I was tired, I had some niggles and I'm a family man as well, so trying to put them first over work sometimes is pretty important," Zampa said after his side's 36-run win over England in Barbados.
"I actually am a bit of a slow starter and I put in a little bit of extra work. My body feels great and just did that bit of extra work. Maybe a bit more bowling than I usually would before a tournament like this. And then the practice games and everything just feels nice at the moment. I think it's, I am a little bit of a slow starter, but this feels like a rare occasion where I've started how I want to."
Zampa has had many ups and downs in his career, but has had the backing of his captains and the team management, for which he is grateful.
"I had to fight for my position in the team for a long time. And then I was lucky enough to have captains that backed me, [Aaron] Finch really backed me in. And it's the same with [Pat] Cummins and [Mitchell] Marsh as well," Zampa said.
"And under this coaching management, my role is clear, I've done the work over time to build up that skill level. But in terms of actually my role in the team, I get backed to take wickets and try and win the game for us and I absolutely feel that with our leadership.
"So, as I said I reckon I did the work when I was young, I went through some rough patches for sure, I got dropped I was in and out of the team a little bit and then I was probably in the team and not bowling that well - but in the last few years that skill is definitely better than it was eight years ago when I started. And then as I said, the leadership, it helps me feel at home."
Speaking about the game, Zampa said England bowled well in the middle overs, them bowling pace-off helped Australia understand the wicket better and implement it themselves.
"I thought they bowled beautifully in the middle overs and then when you're bowling to Heady [Travis Head] and Dave [David Warner], you know they're going to attack you," Zampa, Australia's leading T20I wicket-taker, said.
"And I think they're two of the best in the world at it and it is going to happen. I thought their off-pace stuff was really good and that's what we got summed up from that was bowling into the wicket, slow ball, some sat up a bit and some skidded and speaking to the quicks before we went out, that was the game plan."
Australia have now won two in a row at the T20 World Cup and sit on top of Group B with four points. Australia will play Namibia next on June 11 (Tuesday) in Antigua in a bid to cement their place in the Super Eights.
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