Last Updated on 2 years by Charbel Coorey

Cricket News: Australia plan to bowl Adam Zampa more at the death | Pat Cummins says legspinner Zampa is a death overs option

Australia’s three-match ODI series in India is the perfect opportunity to fine tune preparations ahead of the World Cup. Injury concerns have been at the forefront of Australia’s lead-up to the tournament so far, but there are also question marks around the death-bowling depth especially if they are to go with just two frontline quicks in the playing XI.

Speaking to the media ahead of the India series, captain Pat Cummins spoke about how the team can get the most out of the bowling unit. He hinted that legspinner Adam Zampa could bowl more overs at the death.

Zampa can take wickets at the death – Pat Cummins

“Particularly if you pick four frontline bowlers, you’ve got to be ready to bowl in all phases,” Cummins said.

“’Zamps’, he’s effective at not only keeping the run rate down but he can take a couple of wickets at the death, which is really important as well and sometimes it’s a bit harder for pace bowlers to do that.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if we keep two, three or four overs up our sleeve with him.”

Zampa, like many other bowlers, had a difficult time in the recent South Africa series. He conceded the equal-most runs in a single spell (113) during Heinrich Klaasen’s relentless onslaught. However, he has been excellent in ODIs since the 2019 World Cup.

No other bowler among the ten competing nations at the 2023 World Cup has taken more than Zampa’s 74 wickets since the 2019 edition. 17 of these have come in the death overs, which is the most of any Australian bowler, ahead of Cummins (12) and Mitchell Starc (9).

“I wouldn’t be surprised if we keep two, three or four overs up our sleeve with him.”

Pat Cummins on Adam Zampa

Also, Zampa’s economy rate is remarkable in this phase. Since the end of the last World Cup, Zampa concedes just 6.74 per over between overs 40 and 50. Before the recent South Africa series, that figure was just 5.56. However, maintaining such figures could prove to be a challenge in a competitive World Cup.

Australia’s three match ODI series against India starts at Mohali on September 22. Indore and Rajkot will host the next two matches on September 24 and 27 respectively, before the two teams meet in the big World Cup showdown at Chennai on October 8.