The A to Z of what makes Zampa tick

It's a scenario likely to challenge the fortitude of any young cricketer taking his first steps among international company.

A cut-throat match in which your team is staring hard at defeat as the final hour ticks over.

A buoyant opposition with one hand on the trophy, egged on by a deliriously vocal and parochial home crowd looking to celebrate their national day with a win against their most combative and most despised sporting rival.

Quick Single: Zampa honours Phil Hughes on ODI debut

And having played your role as a bowler, waiting powerlessly in the knowledge it might come down to you – in your maiden innings for your country – to win the game because the two blokes set to follow you nurse a combined batting aggregate in one-day international cricket of zero.

Not so much as a single between them.

But anyone who believes 23-year-old leg-spinner Adam Zampa felt a shudder of apprehension or a fleeting flash of self-doubt as he watched Mitchell Marsh and John Hastings deny him the chance of a turn at bat last night doesn't understand the cloth from which he is cut. 

WATCH: Marsh, Hastings guide Australia home

Speaking the day after he was capped the 212th man over the past 45 years to represent Australia at one-day international cricket, Zampa gave the distinct impression he was almost disappointed an additional wicket did not fall during that gripping final phase in Wellington. 

Not because he willed ill upon the pair putting together a match-winning seventh-wicket stand in the middle or because he wanted to be the one in the limelight come game's end.

It's just that the fiercely competitive New South Welshman who shifted to Adelaide to (successfully) further his push for international honours has faith in his ability to get his job done on a cricket field.

Regardless of where it is located, and of the calibre of the other mob that's gracing it.

"It's not always like that, but last night I was just particularly confident if I had to go out there and score the runs that I was going to do it," Zampa said on the day after the win that tied the Chappell-Hadlee Series at one-all, and the day before the decider is played at Hamilton.

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"I'm just being honest with you.

"If we had 60 runs to win, I was pretty confident we were going to get it (if he was required to bat).

"I back myself batting, bowling and fielding."

One match into his Australian career, Zampa has some form upon which he can hang the pristine gold cap that was presented to him by an equally hard-nosed competitor who became one of his country's most accomplished players and leaders – Allan Border. 

WATCH: Zampa receives cap from Allan Border

In returning 2-57 from his 10-over stint at a venue that is as fraught for spin bowlers as it is for those sitting in the first 20 rows of grandstand square of the wicket – including the scalp of NZ's best batsman Kane Williamson – Zampa returned the best bowling figures on ODI debut by an Australian in more than three years.

The previous most productive being the 2-14 claimed by James Faulkner against the West Indies in 2013, and he went on to join a most exclusive club by being crowned player of the match in an World Cup final.

But the steely-nerved boy from Shellharbour on NSW's south coast, whose parents and girlfriend were among the few Australia supporters in the baying Wellington crowd last night, conceded that even the most unflappable can be prone to a twinge of anxiety, or possibly two.

When he was called upon by Steve Smith, who had also captained his fellow leg-spinner at grade and state level when Zampa was still in New South Wales, the debutant carried figures of 0-22 from four overs and was to resume the battle against two batsmen (Williamson and Grant Elliott) who were well set and looking to up the tempo.

By the time Williamson clubbed him over the off-side for six at the start of his eighth over (Elliott had inflicted a similarly productive blow on the leggie two overs earlier), Zampa's figures had blown out to 0-46 and a frustrating debut loomed.

But despite the presence of the world's number four-ranked batsman at the other end and on the charge, Zampa dared to flight another leg break towards the NZ captain-in-waiting and was rewarded when Williamson sliced a sharp catch to Smith at extra cover.

"I'm not sure," Zampa said today when asked where that innate self-belief he brings to cricket has its genesis. 

WATCH: Two wickets on debut for Zampa

"The wrist was a little bit tense for the first couple of overs that's for sure, but I got into it pretty quickly.

"I did my research a little bit against these (Black Caps) players and tried to just stick to my plans. 

"Luckily it worked – I tried to get Williamson driving and continue to hit the stumps as much as I could as well. 

"So I tried to keep it simple and it's one-day cricket – it either goes one way or the other.

"You can get none-for 60 or two-for 50 odd. 

"You've just got to keep going with your plans I guess."

As for his immediate plans, apart from hoping he is not just part of the XI that Australia will field at Hamilton tomorrow but that he's in the thick of the game's pivotal moments, Zampa knows that outcome lies beyond his sphere of influence.

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He'll find out tomorrow if he's triumphed in the duel with fellow leggie Cameron Boyce for a berth in Australia's 15-man squad for the World T20 tournament in India.

And if he's not the winner of that contest, he'll return to the fight for South Australia at the back end of the Sheffield Shield summer before heading to Pune where he was last night secured for his first crack at the Indian Premier League.

Comfortable in the knowledge that it will be performances that dictate his path from here, and that he backs himself to perform when required.

"Yeah, I've got the numbers on the board lately," Zampa said when asked if he felt he was a chance to add a T20 International cap to the ODI version he received yesterday.

"So it just depends what the selectors go with."