Adam Zampa: BBL’s Restructured Contract System Still Favours Overseas Players

Adam Zampa believes overseas players continue to receive the better end of the deal in the BBL despite the new contracting system, though he insists he never doubted he would participate after signing a two-year agreement with Hobart Hurricanes.

It will be Zampa’s fifth BBL club, having previously played for Sydney Thunder, Adelaide Strikers, Melbourne Stars, and Melbourne Renegades. As a white-ball-only player for Australia, he will be available for the full season and committed to being “chips in” with his new club.

The BBL removed the overseas player draft last month and granted clubs greater freedom over salary cap spending, theoretically opening more money for high-profile Australian players. However, unlike Zampa, most are bound by existing contracts.

Ben Stokes has signed a big-money deal with Adelaide Strikers, while Finn Allen is expected to attract a significant sum following his success with Perth Scorchers last season.

“I think I was always playing the BBL,” Zampa said. “There’s obviously been a lot behind the scenes happening with overseas drafts and money, and the local players hoping for it to land somewhere in their favour. So there was always a little bit of that discussion happening in the background.”

“It’s probably not landed exactly where we thought it might. I think the overseas players are still getting the good end of the deal. But I’m happy with my decision. As soon as the embargo lifted, I was pretty keen to sign with Hobart. I think I’ve made a really good choice.”

Adam Zampa will appear for his fifth BBL club•AFP via Getty Images

On Tuesday, Cricket Australia approved privatisation of the BBL with one of Zampa’s former clubs, Renegades, set to be the first to be sold. He acknowledged having the likes of Stokes was a good thing for the league but hoped that an influx of private money would help even the scales for local players.

“I think it’s potentially just a niggly situation that both parties are in, and I think having players of really good standard, Australian cricket team standard, under contract has kind of made them more powerful in that sense as well,” he said.

“The draft’s gone, and that money, instead of having slots for each player, then you can potentially go and pay more for good overseas, and then have less overseas, which is kind of what’s happened, and it’s kind of against the point as to what the local players think we kind of deserve.”

Zampa had interest from a number of clubs but felt that Hurricanes was the right fit for him, particularly with several current Australia team-mates on the list.

“Being one of the only players in the Australian team that was off contract, there was definitely discussions with other teams,” he said. “[But] once it got to crunch time, I spoke with [Nathan Ellis, Hurricanes captain] a little bit … the people that are at Hobart kind of sparked my interest in what I wanted to get out of playing the Big Bash. I think I’ve gone to a lot of teams for the people that are there and that’s always an important decision in my decision-making.”

“I think that’s really important for that connection and also feeling like I can seamlessly go into a team without feeling like I’m out of place a little bit. To have [Ellis] as captain and TD [Tim David], and playing a bit with Riley Meredith and Ben McDermott, Mitch Owen, so there’s seven or eight guys there that I’ve played a lot of cricket with.”

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