Record-breaker Zampa scripts history as he reaches a special century

History was scripted by leg-spinner Adam Zampa against Namibia at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua on June 11 (Tuesday) as he became the first ever Australian to get to the milestone of 100 T20I wickets. 

Zampa entered the game with 96 T20I wickets to his name, needing four more to get to the coveted landmark. He struck twice in his first nine balls and then picked two more wickets in his final over to become the first ever Aussie to get to the landmark. 

Zampa brought up the century in style, going through the gate of Bernard Scholtz in trademark fashion with a googly that turned and dipped viciously. He incidentally brought up the milestone off his very final ball of the game. 

The four-wicket haul means that Zampa has now taken 24 more T20I wickets than any other Australian bowler. He is well ahead of the rest of the pack, with Mitchell Starc (76) being the closest to him. In terms of spinners, Zampa, remarkably, is the only Australian to have picked more than 50 T20I wickets, with Ashton Agar (48) the closest to him. 

The leggie is also now the highest wicket-taker for Australia in T20 World Cup history. He entered this clash two shy of Starc’s tally of 29 wickets. He’s now gone past that and has become the first Aussie to pick 30+ wickets in T20 World Cups.

The ongoing T20 World Cup edition is Zampa’s fourth as a player. He made his T20WC debut in 2016 in India as a 23-year-old with a reputation of being one of the brightest young talents in the country. But it was in the 2021 T20WC edition that the leggie truly established himself as one of the best in the world, finishing the tournament as the second-highest wicket-taker with 13 wickets in seven encounters. 

There, Zampa finished the tournament with an economy of 5.81 in a high-scoring competition, playing especially a crucial role in the Kangaroos’ victory over Pakistan in the semi-final in Dubai. 

The 32-year-old replicated the showing in the ODI World Cup in India last year, where, again, he finished the competition as the second-highest wicket-taker with 23 scalps to his name. Zampa made a disappointing start to the 50-over World Cup, but produced a string of stunning performances towards the back end to play a significant hand in the Aussies winning the mega event. 

A victory here in this T20 World Cup in the Caribbean would mean Zampa winning three World Cups (2 T20WCs and 1 50-over WC) in the space of three years. But regardless of whether the Aussies go all the way, Zampa is guaranteed to keep intact his reputation of being Australia’s best ever T20 bowler, and arguably the best white-ball spinner in the country’s history. 

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