Apart from Adam Zampa himself, the next most disappointed person to see him missing from Australia’s Test squad for India was perhaps his former mentor Sridharan Sriram.
As an assistant coach for Australia for six years, Sriram watched closely as Zampa evolved his game, and argued that the 30-year-old’s ability to zip his accurate wrist spin off the pitch may well have made him hugely valuable in India.
Adam Zampa missed out on the India Test squad.Credit:Getty Images
Zampa was on standby for the Australian Test tour of Sri Lanka last year, and came within a hair’s breadth of being chosen for India, until the selectors concluded that they would go with Mitchell Swepson, Ashton Agar and Todd Murphy to support Nathan Lyon.
“I would have personally loved to see Zamps bowl here, because he’s got the pace, he’s got that zip off the pitch,” Sriram told The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald. “That’s something I keep an eye out for, who has got the ability to beat you off the pitch, so I think that Zamps has got that.
“He wanted it more than anyone, he wanted to play Test matches in India, he had called me a couple of times a couple of months ago saying ‘Sri I’m so excited that I could be on that tour’, so he wanted it and he started to play first-class cricket for NSW. He did well, three wickets in each innings, so he’s pretty disappointed that he’s not on this tour.”
Siram, Zampa and Marcus Stoinis crossed paths this week, where all are taking part in the UAE Twenty20 league. Ahead of the first Test between Australia and India ain Nagpur on Thursday, Sriram reckoned the physical and mental challenges of bowling spin at a high standard for long periods would test the tourists.
“You can bowl a bit slower or a bit quicker, but you still need that zip off the pitch, and for that your action needs to be really strong,” Sriram said. “What [Ravichandran] Ashwin and [Ravindra] Jadeja and Nathan Lyon do really well is being able to hold their action for long periods of time in conditions which are tough to bowl on, the heat or whatever.
“That will be the challenge for Sweppo and Ash, to hold their action together, to get that same zip off the pitch, even on day three or four as the innings goes on, and as they’re into their 30th or 35th over, can they still be as effective as they were in their first five or 10 overs.
“Our quicks are very seasoned with that, Cummins or Hazlewood, they’re very good in coming back in their second or third spell and that’s what makes them the greats that they are in the modern game, whereas our spinners are not used to that. They’re not used to bowling those long spells.”
Asked how he would be counselling Australia’s spinners at difficult moments during the series, Sriram said he would be focusing on making sure their technical work was holding together.
“When he’s tiring, what are his cues when he’s falling off,” he said. “Maybe strengthen the legs, maybe the shoulder rotating diagonally as opposed to vertically. So these are the common errors that creep in when a spinner gets tired. Even your fingers tend to get tired after bowling a certain number of overs they’re not used to. So how can you keep strengthening your fingers.
“A lot of spinners in India have a rubber band around their fingers and just keep strengthening it, so that your fingers are strong, they don’t get tired bowling long spells. And technically you’ve got to keep an eye on anything they’re doing different technically. But to establish that technical base before a series starts is very important.”
