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Australia’s trump card Adam Zampa was not in the best of forms for the first two games of ODI World Cup 2023. Zampa returned to form with a four-wicket haul against Sri Lanka at Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow on October 16. After getting the ‘Player of the Match’ award, Zampa revealed that he was not fully fit in the first two matches and battled back spasms.
“To be honest, I wasn't feeling great because I had a bit of a back spasm. Was playing through it the last couple of days. Today I felt better, bowled better today,” the leg-spinner said in the post-match presentation.
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“Personally, not at my best and last game particularly felt I could have been doing better. My job in this team is to take wickets in the middle order. Didn’t quite do that last game and put the pressure on the death bowlers. Today, I’ve been feeling better, but nice to come out on the winning side today. Took a while to get into the game, just got to keep that wicket taking attitude going, doesn’t matter if I leak some runs.”
Zampa is the only speciallist spinner in the Australian squad as Ashton Agar was ruled out of the tournament due to an injury. In the first game, he remained wicketless against India and conceded 53 runs from the eight overs he bowled. Against South Africa, he struggled in the middle overs. He took the wicket of Rassie van der Dussen but conceded 71 runs from nine overs. Zampa has struggled of late, especially after his record-equalling most expensive ODI figures against South Africa last month.
Against Sri Lanka, he was expensive in the first three overs. After skipper Pat Cummins got rid of both openers, Zampa dismissed in-form Kusal Mendis and Sadeera Samarawickrama. Later in the innings, he dismissed Chamika Karunaratne and Maheesh Theekshana to bowl out Sri Lanka for 209 from 43.3 overs.
Zampa conceded 47 runs and picked up four wickets. He became the first Australian spinner since Shane Warne to register 10 four-fers in ODIs. Australia chased down the target of 210 with five wickets in hand and 14.4 overs to spare. The win helped them rise from the bottom of the points table to eighth place.
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