Adam Zampa is a cornerstone of Australia’s white-ball set-up and will play his 100th one-day international in the opening match of the series against England on Thursday.As for ever playing test cricket, the leg-spinner believes he might have missed his chance — especially when it comes to the Ashes.
“We have lots of test cricket and there’s still a bit of drive to play that,” Zampa said on Tuesday at Trent Bridge, where the five-match series will begin. “But, in terms of playing in England or playing in Australia against England, I don’t think it’s a possibility.”
With Nathan Lyon having locked down the role of first-choice spinner for more than a decade, and the likes of Todd Murphy, Mitchell Swepson and Matthew Kuhnemann all options, Australia can get by in test cricket without Zampa.
Not so in the shorter formats, where the 32-year-old Zampa is the Australians’ highest-ranked Twenty20 bowler and their second highest-ranked ODI bowler.
Twelve of Zampa’s 99 ODI caps to date have come against England, with a record of 26 wickets at 21.57. He will become the third member of the current Australia squad to reach a century of appearances, following former captain Steve Smith and seamer Mitchell Starc.
Smith and Starc are back in contention after being rested from last week’s drawn T20 series between the rivals.
“When you look back as a young guy, playing for your country for the first time, it’s not something you really think about,” Zampa said of getting to a century of ODI appearances. “But being around for a while now and getting to this achievement, it means a lot to me.
“I never thought I’d play this much for Australia. So yeah, it’s nice to be playing that hundredth ODI. I have my family here — my wife, my son, my parents — it’s going to be a nice occasion.