Star leg-spinner did not want to displace Tanveer Sangha, the domestic 50-over tournament’s leading wicket taker, for Wednesday’s decider in Hobart
New South Wales have commended Adam Zampa for his selflessness after the international white-ball star was not selected for this week’s One-Day Cup final, with the Blues instead sticking with fellow leg-spinner Tanveer Sangha.
The Blues today announced an 13-man squad for Wednesday’s decider against Tasmania in Hobart, with Zampa not included despite being among a handful of Australia T20 squad members – including NSW quicks Sean Abbott and Ben Dwarshuis – being made available. Tasmania look set to regain Nathan Ellis, Matthew Kuhnemann and Matthew Wade.
NSW squad: Kurtis Patterson (c), Sean Abbott, Joel Davies, Ben Dwarshuis, Matthew Gilkes, Chris Green, Ryan Hadley, Liam Hatcher, Sam Konstas, Josh Philippe, William Salzmann, Lachlan Shaw, Tanveer Sangha
Sangha, who has played 11 international limited-overs matches, is this season’s domestic 50-over tournament’s leading wicket taker with 18 scalps at 18.05.
Both wrist-spinners featured in the same NSW XI when Zampa featured in a one-dayer at Sydney’s Cricket Central in September, incidentally against Tasmania. The pair took three wickets between them and were NSW’s most economical bowlers in a narrow two-wicket defeat.
Zampa is understood to have expressed his desire to play the final after returning from Australia’s failed T20 World Cup campaign in Sri Lanka last month, and told Cricket NSW as much.
But CNSW’s cricket performance chief Greg Mail said there wasn’t room for both Zampa and Sangha in the same XI for the day-night final. When that was made clear to Zampa, the 33-year-old dual World Cup winner was supportive of avoiding what would have been a brutal call to axe Sangha.
“As (Zampa) always is when he is available for us, he’s very cognisant on the impact on Tanveer,” Mail told cricket.com.au. “He was keen to play but was pretty clear he didn’t want it to be at Tanveer’s expense. That’s a position we were aligned with as well.
“In domestic cricket we have a dual mandate of trying to develop players for Australia, and winning. With Tanveer being the leading wicket taker coming into the final, we all thought the right thing to do was to make sure he played to continue to try to develop him to be the next long-term spinner for Australia.
“With the final being at Bellerive Oval under lights, we thought it wasn’t a two leg-spinner game – we’ve previously played them both together – so we agreed ‘Zamps’ wouldn’t play.
“I said to him that I think he’s taken a very unselfish approach to this, and one that should be commended.”
Zampa presented Sangha with his ODI cap in September 2023 in South Africa, tipping him for a bright future in all three international formats.
Those two made headlines last summer when NSW picked Zampa, in a rare window of availability for the Sheffield Shield, over Sangha for one game.
State selector and CNSW Board member Stuart Clark declared the Blues had been forced by Cricket Australia into dropping Sangha. CA insisted there had been no such directive and Zampa labelled Clark’s stand as “strange”, while Sangha said he had no issues with Zampa nor the decision to leave him out of the Shield side.
Sangha has long been Zampa’s wrist-spinning understudy for Australia’s limited-overs sides and shadowed him as a travelling reserve through the 2023 ODI World Cup.
Regarding this week’s One-Day final, Mail accepted some would not agree with the call to overlook Zampa.
“As a general rule, we want as many of our internationals playing as possible,” he said. “The situation is slightly unique in that it is a final, Tanveer is the leading wicket taker in the competition, and his longer-term development is a factor.
“I acknowledge not everybody will think we’ve made the right call – but it wasn’t one that was made lightly.”
NSW captain Jack Edwards meanwhile will not play after failing a fitness test on his hamstring before the squad’s departure for Hobart today.
Edwards gave the captaincy to Kurtis Patterson in the Shield last month (before his hamstring injury) which was understood to be a voluntary handover amid a busy few weeks for the 25-year-old, in which he made his international debut in Australia’s T20 series in Pakistan in January.
Patterson then led the Blues in their two most recent one-dayers. Edwards was pushing to return for NSW’s pursuit of their first 50-over silverware since the 2020-21 season but ultimately has not been risked.
The Blues’ other international guns – Mitchell Starc, Steve Smith, Nathan Lyon, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood (the latter three all on the comeback trail from injury) – are not featuring during the back-end of the domestic season.
One-Day Cup 2025-26 standings
Team
Matches played
M
Wins
W
Losses
L
Ties
T
No results
N/R
Net Run Rate
NRR
Deductions
Ded.
Batting Bonus
Bat
Total points
PTS
1
TAS
7
5
2
0
0
0.33
0
2
22
2
NSW
7
4
3
0
0
0.765
0
3
19
3
QLD
7
4
3
0
0
0.607
0
2
18
4
WA
7
4
3
0
0
0.127
0.5
2
17.5
5
SA
7
2
5
0
0
-0.911
0
2
10
6
VIC
7
2
5
0
0
-0.916
0
0
8
Legend
M: Matches played
W: Wins
L: Losses
T: Ties
N/R: No results
NRR: Net Run Rate
Ded.: Deductions
Bat: Batting Bonus
PTS: Total points
