Panned for his poor show in the opening two Cricket World Cup matches, Australia’s sole frontline spinner at the World Cup Adam Zampa said that expensive figures don’t bother him as he bowls to get wickets. Australia found themselves in a precarious situation after suffering back-to-back losses against India and South Africa before notching up a five-wicket win over Sri Lanka on Monday. Zampa, who has enjoyed a lot of success between the 2019 World Cup and the start of the ongoing edition, flattered to deceive in the opening two games, going for plenty of runs. “I’m very good at self-reflection. I look back on the first two games and I’ll probably look at the last game as one where I could have made a difference there and made it easy for those other guys,” Zampa said after Australia’s win.
“But yeah, the Indian game, I mean, we’re under the pump defending 200 and I’m always going to be the guy who tries to get wickets. I’m not going to try and let the game peter out and let it go into nothing. So yeah, figures, whatever.” He registered figures of 0/53 and 1/70 against India and South Africa respectively for a combined figure of 1/123 in 18 overs.
“It’s more about my attitude and reflecting on that too. Did I bowl the ball where I wanted it to? Did I make the right decisions? Did I put my game on the line to try and make a difference? And that’s how I think about it.
“I don’t really care about combined figures. It’s just doing what I can to try and help win the game,” Zampa added.
Against Sri Lanka too Zampa looked sluggish at the beginning, giving away 22 runs in his first three overs but he roared back to form with a match-winning spell of 4/47.
“It took me a lot longer than I wanted to get into the game today. Bowling to set batters as well, trying to build some pressure, I just wasn’t really able to do that.
“I won’t make any excuses. I think I should be good enough to kind of play that role as well.” The wrist spinner revealed that he suffered “random back spasm” and had to undergo a fitness test before the game against Sri Lanka.
“I did a gym session a couple of nights ago and I don’t know if you’ve ever had a back spasm, but I was worse for over the last couple of days.
“I had to do a fitness test before the game today. Yeah, I felt like adrenaline was going to get me through and a bit of Panadeine Forte (medicine). It was a tough one to get through today, but as I said, one of those random ones that will wear off in the next day or so.”
With Sri Lanka going strong following a 125-run opening stand between Kusal Perera and Pathum Nissanka, it was skipper Pat Cummins who stepped up, dismissing both openers before producing a direct throw to mark the end of Dunith Wellalage.
“I thought Cummins’ spell in particular was a bit of a game changer for us and even his energy in the field, the run-out after the rain break, yeah, it changed the energy for us.
“He kind of led from the front. His spell changed the momentum of the game. And then same as in the field, that run out, those little things can turn scores from 210 to 260, and it’s game on. So, he particularly led from the front,” Zampa said.
Australia fly off to Bengaluru for their next game against Pakistan on Friday.
“After the first two games, there’s definitely a flat feeling in the change rooms. We all know that you could probably go from 1 to 11 and say we all could do our roles a little bit better, particularly those first two games.
“But we know, as boss (Cummins) said the other day, we get backed into a corner and guys step up and we get on a roll, then anything can happen. It’s a World Cup, so get on a roll.”
“Obviously, really big game against Pakistan in Bangalore, and if we can put it all together and play a good game there, you go 2 and 2 and the feeling’s much better,” he added.
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