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Australia legbreak spinner Adam Zampa revealed that he had been suffering from a back spasm for a couple of days which played a major role in his low performance in their last World Cup match.
Zampa's spin left the Sri Lankan batting line-up bamboozled as he claimed a four-wicket haul in his 8 overs giving away 47 runs. His magic in the first innings inspired Australia's first victory in the ongoing World Cup as they defeated Sri Lanka by 5 wickets. After the game, Zampa revealed that he had been suffering from back spasms which hindered him from bowling to his true potential in Australia's defeat to South Africa. "To be honest, did not feel great. Been sporting a back spasm for a couple of days but maybe bowled better [today]. I think that was the captain's decision to bowl the offspinner to the lefties...Personally, I couldn't bowl better in the last game and to be honest, I feel I can do better but good to be at the better end of the result tonight. Again, I didn't feel at my best but want to try and keep my wicket-taking attitude. We have a big game against Pakistan in Bangalore; that's going to be a tough one," Zampa said after the game. In the post-match press conference, Zampa went on to further elaborate on the issues that he had been going through and said, "Yeah, this is a bit of a random one to be honest. I did a gym session a couple of nights ago and I don't know if you've ever had a back spasm, but I was worse for wear the last couple of days. I had to do a fitness test before the game today. Yeah, I felt like adrenaline was going to get me through and a bit of Panadein Forte. So yeah, it was a tough one to get through today, but yeah, I think as I said, one of those random ones that will wear off in the next day or so." Zampa ran through the Lankan line-up without letting them score much. He dismissed Mendis (9), Sadeera Samarawickrama (8), the centurions of the previous match for Lanka and took down Chamika Karunaratne (2) and Maheesh Theekshana (0) in the lower order. Three of these dismissals were leg-before wickets. After he set the tone of the game, the batters kept their focus to clinch a five-wicket victory. Australia stumbled early in the innings with David Warner, who is featuring in his last ODI World Cup, losing his wicket for a score of 11. Dilshan Madushanka trapped Warner in front of the stumps in the fourth over. Raising further hopes for Sri Lanka, he sent Steve Smith back to the dugout for a duck. Mitchell Marsh and Marnus Labuschagne drove the innings from that point preventing yet another collapse. Marsh went on to score 52 but he was run out to due to good work in the field by Karunaratne. Kusal Mendis did not make any mistake as he dislodged the stumps before Marsh could drag his bat into the crease. Josh Inglis joined Labuschagne. Madushanka claimed the third victim of his night sending Labuschagne back for 40 in in 29th over. Dunith Wellalage claimed a consolation wicket of Inglis who struck a crucial 58 of 59 balls. Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis took the Baggy Greens across the finishing line with scores of 31* and 20* respectively. (ANI)
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