Australian leg-spinner Adam Zampa has thrown his support behind captain Pat Cummins and his stance on players expressing their personal beliefs.
The Australian cricket team will take a knee alongside the West Indies team for the first Test in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. The West Indies have taken a knee at the beginning of all international fixtures since 2020.
Cummins and the team have been accused of pushing a ‘woke’ agenda but Zampa said that he and his teammates were proud of their captain’s stance.
“The same people that say (to be quiet) are always the ones telling us to try and not be vanilla as well,” Zampa said on SEN 1170 Breakfast.
“We have certain beliefs and if we’re asked about it, we will tell the truth.
“I think Pat nailed it on the head yesterday. He’s obviously copped quite a lot in the media.
“He’s not the guy who will back down and then change his values because of what a few people will comment on their Facebook pages about it.”
Whilst Cummins prepares for the first Test of the summer on Wednesday, Zampa is preparing for his first Sheffield Shield match for NSW and his first since 2019 when he represented South Australia.
The 30-year-old has declared that this match is the beginning of his campaign to be included in the Test squad for the India tour in early 2023.
“There’s no denying that my first class record doesn’t really speak for itself,” he added.
“The results aren’t quite there but the conversations I have had recently (with the selectors) are about how my game has progressed in the last three years and is it good enough to now do well in first class cricket.
“Does the way I bowl suit Indian conditions and can I go as the second or third spinner?
“Those are conversations and agendas that I have been pushing to the selectors.”
Zampa has been named in NSW’s 13-man squad for their Sheffield Shield match against Victoria on Thursday.