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Opinion
Adam Zampa’s omission from the Test squad for India was a tough but fair call from the Australian selectors if nothing else because it rewards loyalty.
It would have been a bad look for the selectors to be handing Zampa a ticket to India ahead of Mitchell Swepson, picking a white-ball specialist who barely plays at first-class level over someone who has been toiling away for Queensland on often unfriendly Gabba wickets year after year.
Zampa conceded he felt “flat” when he missed a spot in the 18-man squad for the four-Test Border-Gavaskar Trophy series after being given an indication by selectors earlier in the summer that he was a strong chance of getting a call-up.
His quicker pace through the air and greater accuracy over Swepson’s slower deliveries that get more turn are better suited to Indian wickets where very few leg-spinners in the traditional Shane Warne mould prosper.
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Even the late, great spin king himself found the going tough in India because the pitches favour faster bowlers who skid the ball off the pitch rather than those who rip and grip.
Adam Zampa reacts during Australia’s T20 World Cup match against New Zealand. (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
Zampa has represented Australia 148 times in the two white-ball formats to make him easily the player with the highest number of matches for the national men’s team without getting a baggy green cap.
The 30-year-old from the Warilla club on the NSW South Coast is 40 clear of the next two white-ball specialists – David Hussey and current long-time teammate Marcus Stoinis.
Most men’s matches for Australia without playing a Test
| ODIs | T20s | Total | |
| Adam Zampa | 76 | 72 | 148 |
| David Hussey | 69 | 39 | 108 |
| Marcus Stoinis | 57 | 51 | 108 |
| James Hopes | 84 | 12 | 96 |
| Ian Harvey | 73 | 0 | 73 |
| Kane Richardson | 25 | 35 | 60 |
| Nathan Coulter-Nile | 32 | 28 | 60 |
| Shane Lee | 45 | 0 | 45 |
| Dan Christian | 20 | 23 | 43 |
In many ways, Zampa is a victim of circumstances – the pandemic and his ongoing selection for Australia’s ODI and T20 teams, coupled with the annual two-month BBL break in the Sheffield Shield, have meant he’s rarely been available for South Australia or NSW in red-ball fixtures after returning to his home state.
He’s not a globetrotting mercenary like some T20 specialists who travel the world solely to pick up short-term contracts several times a year but he’s racked up plenty of lairy uniforms in stints at (try reading all these in one breath) Melbourne Stars, Welsh Fire, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Jamaica Tallawahs, Rising Pune Supergiants, Guyana Amazon Warriors, Adelaide Strikers and Sydney Thunder.
Apart from his BBL franchises, these various stops on the cricketing circuit all play their competitions outside the Australian first-class season, it’s not like he’s stuffing his bank account in the UAE rather than rolling his arm over for his state.
Tim David, who has played 10 times more T20 matches than his 16 List A one-dayers, was overlooked even when he was starring in the IPL for at least a year too long by Australian selectors before they finally gave him a run in the national side in the shortest format.
Mitchell Swepson. (Cricket Australia)
Zampa played his first Shield game in almost three years last month as part of his late bid to be included for the Indian assignment and took 3-57 for the Blues in the first innings at the Junction Oval but went wicketless in the second as Victoria came back to win after overcoming a 51-run deficit.
While he’s an elite performer in the T20 and ODI arenas at international level, his first-class record has never demanded a Test spot on the rare occasions when Australia have been looking for a second spinner to pair with Nathan Lyon.
Zampa has taken 108 wickets in 39 outings at 47.9 with only two five-wicket hauls and one 10-wicket match.
When you compare that with Swepson, who has 176 scalps from 60 games, and taken five wickets in an innings on five occasions including a 10-wicket match, it’s another sign that the selectors got it right by going with the Queenslander.
Australia have also invested in Swepson – he only managed two wickets across his first four Tests innings in Pakistan last year but found his feet in Sri Lanka with 3-55, 2-34 and 3-103 in the two matches at Galle.
Even though Todd Murphy and Ashton Agar are probably in front of him in the queue to be Lyon’s spinning partner in India, Swepson has done enough to be in the mix.
Zampa said it in jest but perhaps the cricketing gods are punishing Zampa for his “you know what, I actually hate grade cricket” line which lives on in The Grade Cricketer’s podcast intro.
His plight is likely to be replicated more and more in future years.
World-class Australian stars like Pat Cummins, Steve Smith and David Warner have conceded that it’s going to be almost impossible for elite player to be able to juggle three formats of international cricket, particularly on top of the ever-growing demands of the IPL.
Veteran fast bowler Mitchell Starc, who has turned his back on millions of extra salary by bypassing the IPL’s lucrative contracts to preserve his body for Australian duty, will be the exception not the rule.
Young all-rounder Cameron Green is determined to be a “triple threat” across the formats but the reality is it won’t take long for that arduous workload to take its toll, both mentally as well as physically, due to cricket’s increasingly crowded calendar.