Adam Zampa has arrived in England eager to pick up where he left off before the Covid-19 pandemic brought sport to a halt in March. In Australia's last outing, against New Zealand at the SCG, Zampa produced a stunning googly to remove Kane Williamson to continue a strong run of form since regaining the spot he lost during the World Cup.
It had been expected that spin would play a key role in last year's tournament in England but things did not quite play out that way with pace bowlers largely hold sway. Zampa, who came into the competition in good form after impressive returns against India and Pakistan, only ended up play four matches which brought five wickets at more than seven runs an over.
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When Australia resumed ODI cricket in January with a tour to India Zampa was back in the XI and claimed five wickets in three matches, including 3 for 50 in Rajkot which came out of an India total of 340 for 6. Steady performances followed in South Africa, where the hosts won 3-0, before he helped Australia back to winning ways with 2 for 50 against New Zealand in the final international match played before lockdowns.
"I've come with experience, bit more confident in my action and technical things I've been working on," Zampa said from Australia's base in Derby. "The amount we were playing helped as well. Coming off a break has been interesting, doing a pre-season which a lot of us haven't had the opportunity to do in a long while."
"[The ball to Kane] is something I'd love to repeat, it feels like such a long time ago. It was an important ball for me, I'd had a strong series in South Africa where I played a different role…so to be bowl that ball to Kane was a real confidence-booster. It was one of the better ones."
The tour will begin with three T20Is at the Ageas Bowl early next month, a format where Australia hit their stride last season with convincing series victories against Sri Lanka, Pakistan and South Africa and where Zampa has formed an effective partnership with Ashton Agar.
Australia had been building towards a home T20 World Cup in October this year, but that tournament will now take place in 2022 with India hosting the next event in 2021 although Zampa was phlegmatic about the change in order of venues.
"The momentum that we had is that something we can fight to gain back in England," Zampa said. "Adaptability is really important, especially where you are playing. We've had a lot of experience in India recently, been there two or three times in last couple of years. I think it changes [planning] a little but thinking about conditions here in England is probably more important than worrying about the T20 World Cup in a year's time."
Australia will be prepare to face England with a series if intersquad matches, the first of which will take place on Friday and has been cut to a 20-over contest because of a poor forecast.
The 21 players have been split into two teams, captained by Aaron Finch and Pat Cummins, and will be supplemented by a local player
Finch XI Aaron Finch (capt), David Warner, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Marsh, Josh Philippe (wk), Daniel Sams, Mitchell Starc, Andrew Tye, Riley Meredith, Nathan Lyon, TBC local player(s)
Cummins XI Matthew Wade, Marcus Stoinis, Steve Smith, Glenn Maxwell, Alex Carey (wk), Ashton Agar, Sean Abbott, Pat Cummins (capt), Kane Richardson, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood