Sage advice and some astute mentoring is behind Adam Zampa's rise to the top
Zampa's rise a tale of seized chances
The ability to focus on his strengths and remain cool under pressure is behind Adam Zampa’s rapid rise to Australia’s No.1 limited-overs spinner.
But if not for some sage advice from his father as a teenager, Zampa – who is currently playing his first Indian Premier League season with Rising Pune Supergiants - may never have turned to spin bowling at all.
"I was 14 or 15 playing country cricket on the South Coast of NSW and then just one day playing with the seniors my dad, who was the captain, just threw me the ball. I bowled some leggies and got a couple of wickets," Zampa recalled in his Mumbai hotel with a grin.
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It was the first time Zampa had bowled leg spin. Growing up, he had focused his efforts on batting and his medium pace bowling.
"Dad just said to me there are too many fast or medium pace bowlers and too many batters and I’d were going to be too small to be fast bowler.
"So I started bowling leg-spin."
Short in stature but with a big-heart and fiercely competitive spirit, Zampa worked his way through the New South Wales youth ranks, where his interactions with coach, and now long-time mentor, Trent Woodhill and current Australia skipper Steve Smith encouraged him to strive for excellence.
"I was more a batsmen who bowled a bit of leg-spin. I went to the Sydney Cricket Ground for a camp when I was 16 and Smithy was always there practising at the time.
"I modelled my cricket around him at the time."
With Zampa one of the youngest members of the squad, his batting was not fast-tracked like Smith’s was, so he instead started to practice his leg-spin.
"Since I was couple of years younger, I was batting at eight or nine, so from then I was always pigeon-holed as a leg-spinner.
"That’s where I developed the relationship with Woodhill and tried to make the under-17s team as spinner."
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But it was not always smooth sailing for Zampa.
Shane Warne had set the template for the art of leg-spin bowling in the 1990’s and the hallmarks of Warne’s artillery - such as the big ripping leg-break – were seen as mandatory tools every emerging leg-spinner around the country required.
Woodhill recalled how Zampa was told as an upcoming leg-spinner he must develop that big-turning leg break if he was to succeed.
"He was told he needed to get more spin on the ball, he needed to have more revs on the ball. People had told him that he wouldn’t make it unless he learns how to spin the ball big," Woodhill, currently batting and fielding coach with Royal Challengers Bangalore, said.
Despite Zampa’s inability to spin the ball around corners, Woodhill had seen other strong points in his bowling - such as his bowling mechanics and ability to deliver under pressure - that encouraged him pick Zampa over a fellow leg-spinner, who did have a sharp turning leg-break, in the NSW Under-19s team.
"I didn’t pick him in the under-17s because there was another spinner that had a massive turning leg break and he was taking wickets for fun.
"But under pressure he couldn’t hold up the way Adam could, so when I became the under-19s coach, I picked Adam at the age of 17.
"The way he delivered under pressure by knocking over batsmen like Chris Lynn showed his ability to handle pressure on big stage."
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Zampa’s greatest asset is his simplicity and ability to work to his strengths rather than focusing too much on his weakness. It is a theory that was instilled into him by Woodhill and one that he has followed ever since.
"I personally would love to have a big turning leg-break but I don’t have that in my armoury but I have other strengths that I should back myself with," Zampa said.
"Yes, I would love to develop it but think practically and I don’t have strong and long fingers or powerful forearms, so I have to work with what I have."