Australia’s only specialist spinner in India has overcome huge challenges just to get on the field during this World Cup
Scars, spasms and fevers: Zampa's wild World Cup
In the space of the World Cup's opening fortnight, Adam Zampa has cut his face open in a pool, been left struggling to breathe with back spasms, and suffered a crippling fever.
Australia's tournament hopes might have gone down the drain had the squad's only specialist, and normally indestructible, spin bowler been waylaid by any one of his varied ailments.
But after recapturing what he believes was some of his best 50-over form in their desperately needed win over Pakistan, Zampa hopes his struggles are now behind him and his side's teetering campaign is back on track.
"I just figured something out in my head," the 31-year-old said on the Unplayable Podcast of his stirring 4-53 in Bengaluru that has put Australia into fourth on the standings leading into Wednesday’s clash with the Netherlands in Delhi.
"It was the best I've bowled in a while in ODI cricket. The ball came out exactly how I wanted it to."
Zampa had literally been seconds away from not playing at all.
Leading into the Pakistan match, back spasms that had him gasping for air before the preceding match against Sri Lanka returned, and were compounded by a virus that had left him bedridden.
On Friday morning, Zampa recalled how wife Harriet woke up next to him and said: "You're not playing today, are you?” To which Zampa replied, "absolutely no chance".
He left for the ground not expecting to play but as his illness subsided somewhat, some intense remedial work from physiotherapist Nick Jones allowed Zampa to make what captain Pat Cummins later termed a "Lazarus" style revival.
"I think we were meeting at 1.20pm and he was declared fit at 1.19pm," coach Andrew McDonald said of their last-minute decision to put Zampa on the team sheet.
"It was it was a great effort not only to get up for the game but then to underpin the bowling performance.
"He's got a huge role to play going forward."
Ashton Agar had been squeezed out of the World Cup due to a calf concern, with Australia deciding they could not carry a second injured player in their 15-man squad after picking Travis Head who has been sidelined with a fractured hand.
It has put considerable responsibility on Zampa's shoulders, with only allrounder Glenn Maxwell on hand as another spinning option.
"Before the World Cup, Ronnie (McDonald) was telling me 'we've been dealt a hand here, Ash is probably not going to be part of the World Cup, you're going to be the main spinner with Maxi'," said Zampa.
"I'm like, 'it's fine mate, I won't miss a game, when have I ever missed a game for Australia?'"
Zampa knows now he was tempting fate with those words.
His run of injury misfortune had begun when he picked up a glute injury during the bilateral one-day series against India leading into the tournament.
That niggle hobbled him during Australia's first two World Cup matches, returning combined figures of 1-123 from 18 overs in the defeats to India and South Africa, before a bizarre event in the team hotel's pool in Chennai.
Zampa said he closed his eyes while swimming underwater, veering off course and hitting his head on the pool wall.
"I got a rude shock and I was actually worried I was missing some teeth but luckily I wasn't," he recounted. "Just claret (blood) everywhere. I didn't say anything to anyone the next day, just thought I could potentially get away with it. But I had a big scar there."
It proved only a minor concern compared with what was to follow.
The rehabilitation work for his glute niggle sparked his initial onset of back spasms prior to the Sri Lanka match and left him requiring a heavy dose of painkillers to play in the must-win encounter.
"That first game against Sri Lanka I might have had a bit too much pain relief," said Zampa. "The first hour was a bit of a blur to me and then the last five (overs) when I got my wickets, I could hardly get through the crease. Getting down to get a ball or even to move, it was that sharp nervy pain.
"I did say in the fitness test, 'I think adrenaline could get me through', and it got me through a few overs and then after eight (overs) I was like, 'I can't bowl anymore'."
When he subsequently got up for the Pakistan game, Zampa admitted: "It was like a miracle."
Australia will hope they won't need to keep producing them to keep their only spinner on the park.
Australia's 2023 ODI World Cup fixtures
October 8: Lost to India by six wickets
October 12: Lost to South Africa by 134 runs
October 16: Beat Sri Lanka by five wickets
October 20: Defeated Pakistan by 62 runs
October 25: v Netherlands, Delhi (D/N), 7.30pm AEDT
October 28: v New Zealand, Dharamsala, 4pm AEDT
November 4: v England, Ahmedabad (D/N), 7.30pm AEDT
November 7: v Afghanistan, Mumbai (D/N), 7.30pm AEDT
November 11: v Bangladesh, Pune, 4pm AEDT
Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Sean Abbott, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, David Warner, Adam Zampa
2023 World Cup standings
| Team | M | W | L | T | N/R | NRR | Ded. | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1
IND
|
9 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.57 | 0 | 18 |
|
2
SA
|
9 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1.261 | 0 | 14 |
|
3
AUS
|
9 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.841 | 0 | 14 |
|
4
NZ
|
9 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0.743 | 0 | 10 |
|
5
PAK
|
9 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | -0.199 | 0 | 8 |
|
6
AFG
|
9 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | -0.336 | 0 | 8 |
|
7
ENG
|
9 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 0 | -0.572 | 0 | 6 |
|
8
BAN
|
9 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 0 | -1.087 | 0 | 4 |
|
9
SL
|
9 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 0 | -1.419 | 0 | 4 |
|
10
NED
|
9 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 0 | -1.825 | 0 | 4 |
M: Matches played
W: Wins
L: Losses
T: Ties
N/R: No results
NRR: Net Run Rate
Ded.: Deductions
PTS: Total points