SHEFFIELD SHIELD
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Warilla junior Adam Zampa is on the cusp of a boyhood dream after being selected in the NSW 12-man squad for the Sheffield Shield clash against Queensland at Manuka Oval beginning tomorrow.
With Mitchell Starc 12th man for Australia in Adelaide against South Africa and fellow NSW quick Trent Copeland out with an ankle injury, leg-spinner Zampa and left-arm swing bowler Josh Lalor have been added to the Blues squad.
It is the first time the 20-year-old Zampa has been named in the Blues squad and he was hopeful the Manuka Oval track will be conducive to spin.
"I'm certainly a chance to debut, it's just a matter of what the track is like and if they want to play a leggie," Zampa said.
"It'd be awesome to be picked, something I've aspired to do. It's finger-crossed at this stage but getting in the twelve is great."
Zampa is expecting a dry, flat Manuka Oval track, which hopefully will turn later in the game.
The spinner has taken 15 wickets for Sutherland in Sydney grade cricket this season, with a best of 4/66 against Sydney University.
Blues selectors have been monitoring Zampa for a couple of seasons and he has done well for the NSW Second X1, including taking 5/73 against ACT this season.
The promising leg-spinner is joined in the Blues squad by his former Warilla teenage first grade teammate Nic Maddinson, with the pair also teammates at Sutherland.
"It'd be great to play alongside Nic for the Blues," Zampa said.
Maddinson and Zampa were part of the Australian under-19 team that won the World Cup in New Zealand in 2010, with Maddinson going on to debut for NSW that year.
As 15-year-olds Zampa and Maddinson starred for the Warilla first grade team in the South Coast competition, with Zampa first joining Eastern Suburbs in Sydney. He is now in his third season with Sutherland.
The Blues squad to take on Queensland is: Stephen O'Keefe (capt), Doug Bollinger, David Dawson, Brad Haddin, Josh Hazlewood, Moises Henriques, Scott Henry, Josh Lalor, Nic Maddinson, Peter Nevill, Steve Smith, Adam Zampa.
