A new No. 2 behind Lyon?: Assessing Australia’s red-ball spin stocks as Zampa eyes Test debut

Australian white-ball star Adam Zampa wants a spot on the upcoming two-Test tour to Sri Lanka in February.

The 32-year-old is yet to make his Test debut and often finds it hard to push his red-ball case given he often misses out on playing Sheffield Shield cricket due to international white-ball duties.

Despite that holding him back, Zampa is still one of the nation’s best wrist-spinners alongside Mitch Swepson and he says he’s striving to earn a baggy green early next year.

“I’m definitely still striving for that,” Zampa told SEN Sportsday.

“I’d love to still play Test cricket, it’s firmly a goal, so the answer is absolutely I’m hoping to be on that tour.”

With Zampa throwing his hat in the ring, SEN Cricket’s Adam White went through Australia’s spin stocks and listed his pecking order of those vying for a spot in the side behind Nathan Lyon.

While he thinks that selectors will likely go with Matt Kuhnemann in the sub-continent given he’s a left-armer and turns the ball away from right-handers, White thinks that the two next-best spinners are also off-spinners like Lyon.

Although Victoria’s Todd Murphy has long been considered Lyon’s heir apparent, White thinks that WA’s Corey Rocchiccioli may have gone past him recently with the 27-year-old's height and high release point impressing many First Class cricket watchers.

“Nathan Lyon is still there, so he plays,” White said on SEN Sportsday.

“Then I think in subcontinental conditions, they’ll still go back to Matt Kuhnemann as the second.

“And the two leading spinners out outside of Nathan Lyon are two off-spinners and one of them is Todd Murphy. He's obviously played for Australia now a few times and has been seen generally in the last two years as the understudy for Nathan Lyon. 

“But there is another one too who is called Corey Rocchiccioli from Western Australia who is an excellent bowler.

“I think at the moment if I'm to be fair, he's probably gone ahead of Todd Murphy.

“He bowls differently than Murphy, but still bowls off-spin. I think he’s probably gone ahead of him.

“You've then got Ashton Agar, but I think they've probably gone past him. 

“Then you're looking at the guys like Matt Short, Glenn Maxwell and Travis Head that can bowl your seven or eight overs of off-spin if required.”

Murphy gets his chance to impress selectors when he plays in the Australia A match against India A in Mackay which begins on Thursday.