Australian spin bowler Adam Zampa has confirmed he will prioritise playing limited overs cricket for his country ahead of any franchise short form competitions.
An early start to the Australian home summer, with Andrew McDonald's side to kick things off in August with a three-match ODI series against Zimbabwe in Townsville during late August, before moving to Cairns the following week to play New Zealand in the same format of series, will see the top Australian players needing to abandon the end of England's The Hundred to be involved for their country.
Australian contracted players have an obligation to play for their country when selected - something Zampa was when the squad was revealed for the six ODIs yesterday.
But even so, he had no problems, telling Cricket.com.au that he would play the first part of the Hundred before returning home to play for Australia, with the World Cup on the horizon.
"I think the way it'll go with The Hundred is I'll play part of the tournament," Zampa told cricket.com.au. "In an ideal world the schedule lines up and you don't have to play half (a tournament), but this Zimbabwe tour of the Top End has been years in the making, so I'll be on deck for that.
"I love playing for Australia. The tour to Sri Lanka is the only one I've ever pulled out of, and I don't have any plans on pulling out of any more tours, other than for life-changing events.
"I needed the break mentally and physically, and it was nice to be able to put some time into the family as well, but I've picked up the tools again recently.
"Brisbane is really close so I've been able to have a couple of bowls at AB Field. I also had a bowl at Bangalow Cricket Club's synthetic wicket, and I had my dad over last week, we had the spray paint out and we painted a wicket on the gravel road and I had a bowl in my hiking shoes. They came out well."
The 30-year-old will be a key part of Australia's double World Cup assault in the next 12 months, with a T20 tournament on home shores this summer, before the ODI version heads to India next year.
Intriguingly though, Australia currently sit eighth spot in the World Cup qualifying race, and the matches against Zimbabwe and New Zealand will be critical in ensuring they receive automatic qualification to the tournament and don't have to go through a separate qualification battle - something South Africa will likely have to do after handing Australia the points for an ODI series which was originally scheduled to be played in January, but saw the Proteas back out to prioritise their own T20 tournament domestically.
The first ODI against Zimbabwe is set for August 28 in Townsville, with the entire six matches against Zimbabwe and New Zealand to be played by September 11.
