Adam Zampa – UAE South Africa’s overseas franchise league ‘not in my calculation’

“It’s great to have so many games, but honestly it’s probably a long-term thing for me,” he told ESPNcricinfo. “I’m 30 years old and although you have a contract with Australia, I thought – well, I know those people won’t get the NOC [No-Objection Certificates] Enter those games.

“Playing cricket for Australia is my priority and then obviously the BBL is the reward all summer. As long as I do that, other games are out of my calculation. I think the players are very open to their feedback towards the BBL – I definitely have.

“I still love the BBL. It’s a big part of my career, and [overseas player] Draft brings something new to it. Obviously, the whole David Warner story is going on behind the scenes, but if we can somehow get the best players involved, it’s obviously best for the game. “

More than 150 overseas players have been nominated for this month’s player draft, but some will only be available for the first seven or eight games of the season before heading to the UAE or South Africa. But Australia’s leading players will play more than usual this year, while several Test players including Pat Cummins, Josh Hazwood and Steven Smith are discussing the possibility of signing.

Meanwhile, Zampa himself has one year left on his contract with the Melbourne Stars and is negotiating an extension. “These guys have a little chance to play BBL this year,” he said. “If we can somehow get the best players to play as much as possible, you’ll keep kids interested, you’ll keep people watching on TV, and that’s why we do that.

“It’s just the way the world franchises cricket right now. If we can get some of the best players in the world in, even half of them, you’ll get people to watch it. In an ideal world, you’d have certain Players can play the whole game, but sometimes that’s not the case.

“[Administratiors] Already played their cards with its length. We played 14 games in seven or eight weeks: I don’t mind 14 of them, but sometimes two months can be a bit of a drag. When you’re trying to get the best player in the world to come over and play a full game, it’s probably a bit too much. I don’t have a problem with the number of games, but if they can squeeze it down to five or six weeks, you’re getting the best overseas players all the time, and I think that makes a lot of sense. “

“It’s a great opportunity for me to play in a new competition,” he said. “We missed last year because of our series against Bangladesh and it was a good opportunity for me to play cricket because I haven’t had a job for a while.

“The standard of the game is good. There’s a lot of depth and you have these guys coming out of county cricket and the way they play is really fearless. I haven’t played in a while so it’s nice to be back I love it Take part in this game and its innovations.

“Next year, we don’t really have any clashes with the Centaurs and that would be good. It’s really hard to play charter cricket, build relationships quickly and then have to leave. Obviously international cricket is first and foremost, but hopefully next year it will be Go online and we can play all the hundred.”

The Fire play their first home game of the 2022 season in Cardiff on Sunday afternoon. “I’m happy to play a home game: obviously it was a very difficult start for us the other night, so it would be great to turn things around in front of the Wales fans.”

KP Snacks, the official team partner of the Hundred, will tour the country this summer to give people more opportunities to play cricket as part of their ‘Everyone In’ campaign. Visit everyonein.co.uk/about.