Adam Zampa, Chris Tremain join NSW squad ahead of Sheffield Shield season

Australian fast bowler Chris Tremain and leg-spinner Adam Zampa have been roped in by New South Wales (NSW) Blues ahead of the 2019-20 season of the Sheffield Shield.

Ecstatic to join the team, Tremain said though his cricket career was forged in Sydney, it feels fantastic to return home at Yeoval.

“It feels great to come home. Most of the way home. Sydney is where my cricket career was forged, but it’s fantastic being so close to family back at Yeoval (in Central West NSW) where it really all started.We were happy in Melbourne but with a young son and a nine-hour drive between him and his grandparents, we limited their interaction,” NSW official website quoted Tremain as saying.

Zampa, on the other hand, said that being able to play for the state where he played his junior cricket means a lot to him.

“The prospect of moving back home and being able to play for the state I started with and where I played my junior cricket means a lot to me.I’m looking forward to testing myself in Shield cricket with a team of this calibre and I’m hoping to get the opportunity of playing with Nathan Lyon down the track,” Zampa said.

Both the players seem to have made the decision to return home with the prospect of being closer to their respective families.

In November 2012, Zampa made his first-class debut for NSW Blues and went on to play three Sheffield Shield matches and four One-Day List A games before moving to South Australia.

Zampa has bagged a total of 95 wickets in Sheffield Shield and 51 One-Day wickets for South Australia.He has also claimed 108 wickets across 55 ODIs and 30 T20Is he played for Australia so far.

Tremain, on the other hand, too played his first international match for NSW in 2012 before leaving the team and joining Victoria six seasons ago.In 2016, he made his ODI debut for Australia.

He has taken 209 Sheffield Shield wickets and also led Victoria to four titles in six seasons with the team.

Besides the duo, batsman Daniel Solway and all-rounder Nathan McAndrew are also among the seven new players on the NSW Blues contract list for the upcoming domestic season.

Meanwhile, Oliver Davies, Ryan Hadley, Baxter Holt, Arjun Nair, Lachlan Hearne and Tanveer Sangha join the rookie contract list. Sydney Thunder spinner Arjun Nair join the NSW Blues on the rookie list.