Ignored for the upcoming Test series against India, Australia's white-ball leg-spinner Adam Zampa has vowed not to give up on making his debut in the latest version of the game but would prioritise doing well in white-ball cricket and excel for Australia in the ODI World Cup in India later this year.
Australia's national cricket selectors on Wednesday selected a four-man spin arsenal for the upcoming four-Test tour of India with rookie spinner Todd Murphy making the grade on the back of some superb performances at the domestic level and for Australia A.
Murphy joins experienced campaigner Ashton Agar and Mitchell Swepson as potential spin partners for Nathan Lyon on a tour. Agar has recently made it back to the Test squad and played the third and final Test against South Africa and continues to be preferred as the national selectors confirmed an 18-player squad for the four-Test Border-Gavaskar series.
A bitterly disappointed Adam Zampa isn't prepared to give up on a Test debut even though he admitted that he is not sure what his red-ball future holds.
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Zampa revealed on Friday that chairman of the national selection committee George Bailey and head coach Andrew McDonald informed him his omission from the touring squad was one of the toughest calls they had to make.
Zampa has not played much red-ball cricket at the domestic level too. The white-ball spinner played his first Sheffield Shield match in three years last month, collecting 3-106 for New South Wales across both Victorian innings to show selectors he was keen to play a role in the four-Test Border-Gavaskar series.
"I'm very disappointed, I would love to have been on it," Zampa was quoted as saying by Australian media. "I thought with the way that I've been going in international cricket in particular that this was going to be my opportunity (to play Test cricket).
"And that was the message I got six weeks ago as well that this was going to be a very good chance I could potentially be on it but now that I'm not, I'm very flat about it and it's time to just move on from it. I was really excited to potentially be on this tour and the message was that my style of bowling might have been handy over there. But I think potentially last minute that was a change of mind.," Zampa was quoted as saying by the website cricket.com.au.
After announcing the squad, Bailey had said that Zampa's limited first-class cricket in the past three years had worked against him.
"Zamps has displayed a real keenness to be around the Test squad and we just probably haven't seen enough red-ball cricket from him," Bailey said. "And to be fair to Swep (Swepson) we've liked what he's given us when he's had his opportunities and (we'll) and continue to invest in him and see where he can get to."
Zampa says he has moved on after that snub and is looking forward to making meaningful contributions to Australia in the ODI World Cup in India in October-November this year and the T20 World Cup at home in June 2024.
That's where his priorities would be for the next 18 months.
"I'm not going to close the door completely to red-ball cricket," the 30-year-old said. "But life is always about balance and I've got a family and these white-ball tours and World Cups that are coming up.
"So I've got to try and think about what's best for my body and myself and my family. It's two years until the next subcontinent tour (Australia tour Sri Lanka in February 2025) that's a long way away and I've got two white-ball World Cups to concentrate on before that."
Zampa could play another three Sheffield Shield matches before departing for India for the three one-day internationals following the Test series. He, however, revealed that he was still weighing up whether to make himself available for his state.
"I don't know what is in store for me red-ball cricket wise, I'm just going to get through this Big Bash and reconsider," he said. "I'll have those conversations with George Bailey and Andrew McDonald to see what the next little bit looks like for me, what's best for them and myself, so those conversations will be had after the BBL."
