Adam Zampa faces triumphs and disasters of one day spinning with equanimity

Photo: ICC

ADAM ZAMPA believes the attempts of the boo boys to get under the skin of Australian duo David Warner and Steve Smith at this World Cup will come to nothing.

The Kangaroos’ former captain and vice-captain have come in for barracking at the hands of rival fans since returning from bans served in the wake of last year’s ball tampering scandal – this despite pleas from team manager Justin Langer to afford the pair respect.

Smith in particular got a hostile reception during yesterday’s win over Afghanistan, but Warner carried on regardless, hitting 89 not out as the Aussies eased home by 8 wickets.

Wrist-spinner Zampa says whether such booing comes under the heading of banter or something more sinister, it’s falling on deaf ears.

“Personally, I don’t even really hear the crowd to be honest. I think you can just block it out,” he said

“Honestly, we spoke about it on our camp in Brisbane, how we were going to react to it and we haven’t spoken about it since.

“We expected what we were going to cop and I think all of us to our credit are just getting on with the job.

“You heard the boos today when Smithy went out there. Call it what you want, disrespectful or just a part of the game the way us as players has been handling it has been great.

“If you let it get to you, I suppose that is when something will happen.”

Zampa played a full part in ensuring the Aussies’ defence of the title got off to a winning start. Having got the nod ahead of fellow spinner Nathan Lyon, the 27-year-old took 3-60, figures which would have been better but for some brutal hitting from Najibullah Zadran which saw him clubbed for 22 off one over.

He was philosophical about the bruising, suggesting it is part of a leg-spinner’s lot.

“It’s tough, but you know as a wrist spinner sometimes that is going to happen,” he said.

“The ball didn’t come out as well as I would have liked today to be honest with you. But I already had two wickets under my belt and I also knew I had a huge role to play coming up because we were getting towards bowling at the tail.

“I forget about that stuff really quickly. I probably over-complicated it a little bit in that over. If I had the opportunity again, I would really simplify it.

“You have to let those things go because if you dwell on them too much as a wrist spinner the next three overs you bowl will be the dangerous ones.”

The rest of Aaron Finch’s game-plan against the Afghans involved plenty of short-pitched bowling from the pace trio of Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Nathan Coulter-Nile.

Zampa claimed there was an element of giving their opponents a style of bowling foreign to them, but hinted it’s a method they may employ more widely through the tournament.

Next opponents West Indies employed similar tactics in their demolition of Pakistan in their opening game, so the suggestion is Australia are ready to meet fire with fire when the two meet at Trent Bridge on Thursday.

“There was a little bit of pace in the wicket and with our tall guys playing against Afghanistan who play on the sub-continent and face a lot of spin, that was our game-plan,” he added.

“We want to play an aggressive style of cricket throughout this whole tournament and to have those three quicks bowling the way they did helps me as well.”