Finch was all praise for his team’s lead spinner Adam Zampa after his “terrific” performance with the ball against Sri Lanka in an important T20 World Cup 2021 fixture on Thursday.
Playing their second Super 12 encounter in Group 1 in Dubai, Australia found themselves under pressure when Sri Lanka raced to a score of 60/1 in 7 overs.
Then Zampa got into the act and delivered a four-over spell of 2/12 that completely soaked the momentum out of Sri Lanka’s innings. Zampa’s miserly spell ensured SL were forced to take extra risks for run-scoring and that led to a flurry of wickets, including two of his own.
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And Sri Lanka, who were looking good for a score in excess of 165-170 at one stage, eventually finished with just 154/6. With their pacers proving expensive and their spinners’ effect being nullified by the dew in the second half, the Lankans failed to defend their unideal score and faced a seven-wicket loss.
Usually, such layered but impactful spells go under the radar. However, Zampa was rewarded with a ‘Player of the Match’ for his performance.
Finch also found it amusing before making it a point to mention how his wristspinner “controlled” the game after the powerplay.
“As a batter, I love batters getting [Player of the Match] but I think when you’re looking at the impact on a game, Zamps was terrific tonight,”
“On the back of a really good powerplay from Sri Lanka, the way that he controlled the game, especially from that bottom end where the right-handers had a short boundary to hit to, he was fantastic.”
“He got big wickets. That was a world-class performance from him.”
Finch was quoted as saying by the ICC.
In Australia’s first game against South Africa, too, Zampa was their hero and gave away only 21 runs with two wickets off his four overs.
The wristspinner has been pivotal to Australia’s winning run so far as his two outings of the tournament so far have seen him pick up four scalps while conceding just 4.12 rpo.
