Veteran Australia leg-spinner Adam Zampa has established himself as one of the premier white-ball spinners over the years. With a World Cup title and 169 wickets to his name since his debut in 2016 against New Zealand, he is all set to play his 100th ODI when he plays in the series opener against England at Trent Bridge.
However, Zampa has played an invaluable role in all of Australia’s recent white-ball matches, with T20 captain Mitchell Marsh labelling
him as the most important player in their squad as well. However, his family will be in attendance when he plays his 100th ODI, and
he opened up about the same ahead of the contest in Nottingham
“It means a lot to me. I never thought I’d play this much for Australia.””The feeling of playing for your country and still winning for your country beats playing franchise cricket and winning franchise cricket. I experienced the Hundred, it was great, I loved playing it, and winning at the end is a bonus but it hits different when you play for your country, when you win World Cups. Still got that drive to win many more,” Zampa said.
However, he played a huge role as the Oval Invincibles retained their title during The Hundred 2024. He ended as the joint-highest
wicket-taker along with Tymal Mills. Notably, he is not far away from attaining the same feat in the T20 format. He has made 92 T20I appearances, having made his debut soon after his maiden ODI appearance in 2016 as well.
“There’s been a lot of questions about the ODI format and what that looks [like] going forward. In terms of playing for Australia and that drive, I think every young guy coming through still thinks that’s the be-all and end-all. But feels like playing for your country is still the priority. I agree with you, don’t know what it’s going to look like in the next few years, particularly with this format, but I feel like ODI cricket’s still a really good format, I still enjoy playing it and think a lot of young guys coming through still see it as a good opportunity to play for your country,” Adam Zampa concluded.
