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Ace spinner Adam Zampa switches allegiance one more time in Australia

The 34-year-old is going to represent Queensland in the upcoming domestic season in Australia. NSW is now a thing of the past for him.

Updated on: Jul 30, 2026, 11:11:02 IST
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In what is surely a surprise move for many, Australia legspinner Adam Zampa has left his Sheffield Shield side New South Wales for a new team in the upcoming season. And it’s Queensland. The 34-year-old, who has played 121 ODIs and 118 T20Is for Australia, has not played a first-class game since 2024 because of a busy international schedule. His stint at Queensland is going to be pretty much similar for the same reason, if truth be told. This is not the first time Zampa has switched allegiance. Before coming to NSW, he represented South Australia for seven long years.

Adam Zampa played his last first-class game in 2024. (AFP)
Adam Zampa played his last first-class game in 2024. (AFP)

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“The leg-spinner lives near Byron Bay on the northern coast of NSW, with the move allowing him greater flexibility and proximity for training. The 34-year-old is a nationally contracted player who is free to represent a state of his choice as he falls outside the domestic salary cap, with Cricket Australia today formally approving his move to Queensland, where he will join forces with fellow leggie Mitch Swepson.

“Test opener Jake Weatherald was the most recent CA-contracted player to switch states earlier this year, returning home to South Australia after three years with Tasmania. Zampa is unlikely to challenge Swepson for red-ball opportunities however, with the Australian white-ball specialist having played just one first-class match in the past three seasons,” cricket.com.au said.

Queensland’s high-performance boss Bennett King is quite pleased with the signing of Zampa, who has taken more than 350 wickets in international cricket but has not played a Test match yet. And it’s highly unlikely he will ever play one at his stage of his career.

"He is a world-class bowler, and his experience and insights will certainly benefit our group. We look forward to assisting him with his goal of continuing to represent Australia with distinction in the future," King said.

Over the years, Zampa has built a great reputation as a white-ball expert, and then, thanks to the presence of the brilliant Nathan Lyon in the team, the Aussie didn’t really need another full-time spinner. Zampa is at present in England, participating in the Hundred, where he plays for London Spirit. He will join Queensland once the 100-ball event is over. Meanwhile, new Queensland coach and former Aussie cricketer James Hopes is back to his job after a stint in Major League Cricket in the US.

  • Prateek Srivastava
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    Prateek Srivastava

    Prateek Srivastava is a senior sports journalist having been in the profession for two decades now. He started his print career with the India Today Group and later also worked for the Asian Age.   In 2009, sensing the wind of change, he switched to the digital media and joined Mobile ESPN. There, he covered the 2011 Cricket World Cup and 2010 Hockey World Cup as a venue reporter. He did plenty of voice-over work too, over there.   After leaving Mobile ESPN, Prateek went on to work for Cricketnext, Gocricket and Cricbuzz. At Gocricket (Times Internet Limited), he covered the 2014 T20 World from Bangladesh. There he also received a team leadership award, given at the end of the month.   Prateek has also covered the 2016 T20 World Cup in India, this time working for Sportz Interactive. He also worked for Chinese giants Alibaba over two years and led their ""Short News"" content team at UC Browser.   While cricket is Prateek’s expertise, he has also done a lot of golf. In fact, he has covered India’s first two European Tour events back in the late noughties. He has also done extensive writing on football having been associated with the Indian Super League for three seasons. Finally, Prateek is a literature aficionado and swears by Philip Roth and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and when he doesn’t joke, he is usually quiet and at work.Read More

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