Adam Zampa joins Queensland, BBL club remains unknown

Australia's premier white-ball spinner set to play domestic cricket for Queensland after leaving NSW

Adam Zampa will play his domestic cricket for Queensland this summer when he is available after leaving New South Wales but whether he signs with Brisbane Heat in the BBL remains to be seen with the contracting embargo still in place while the competition updates its contracting rules for 2026-27.

Zampa is a Cricket Australia (CA) contracted player and his limited domestic availability, owing to his heavy Australia white-ball and global franchise commitments, was a source of tension for NSW in recent years after returning to his home state in 2020 following seven seasons with South Australia. He last played a Sheffield Shield game for NSW in 2024 with NSW board member and selector Stuart Clark suggesting CA had forced NSW to pick him against their wishes. New NSW coach Brad Haddin, who was then a commentator, also disagreed with Zampa's selection for that game stating on the Willow Talk Podcast that "he doesn't come to training, he's not part of the NSW system."

Zampa last played a List A domestic One-Day Cup game for NSW in September last year but was praised by NSW for sitting out of the One-Day Cup final in February against Tasmania when he was available in order to allow fellow legspinner Tanveer Sangha to play. NSW went on to win the title.RelatedAll the Australian state squads for the 2026-27 season

BBL's 'No. 1 priority' is to make domestic stars 'feel valued'

Zampa steps aside from One-Day Cup final to ensure Sangha can play

Zampa lives in Byron Bay near the northern NSW border but it is only a two-hour drive from Queensland's capital Brisbane, where both Queensland Cricket and CA's national training facility is situated. It is an eight-hour drive or one hour flight to get from Byron Bay to Sydney where NSW train.

Nationally contracted players can move states with approval from CA. Jake Weatherald moved from Tasmania to South Australia earlier in the year. Zampa has elected to move to Queensland which will allow him to access training facilities more often. How much he will play for Queensland remains to be seen, especially given current legspinner Mitchell Swepson is the state's current vice-captain for both Shield and One-Day cricket when Marnus Labuschagne is unavailable. It is unlikely he will play much red-ball cricket moving forward after missing out on Test selection for the Sri Lanka tour in 2025.

Australia have an ODI tour of South Africa and Zimbabwe in September which overlaps with the start of the domestic season. Queensland have two One-Day Cup matches in October which he could be available for although one is at the WACA ground in Perth where playing two legspinners seem unlikely.

Australia have white-ball matches against England in November and Zampa could well be absent for the remainder of the One-Day Cup matches in February if he asks for and is given an NOC to play in the SA20 at the conclusion of the BBL. The two competitions do not overlap as much in 2026-27 as the SA20 runs from January 17 to February 21 with the BBL concluding on January 26.

Zampa does not have a BBL deal for next season and is understood to be exploring his options after three seasons at Melbourne Renegades. He has also previously played for Melbourne Stars, Adelaide Strikers and Sydney Thunder.

BBL clubs are currently under a contracting embargo that is not expected to lift until early August with a number of BBL executives traveling to the Hundred at the back end of July.

It is expected that the overseas draft will be scrapped for 2026-27 which will allow for clubs to spend more of their salary cap on local players following significant unrest among Australia's best players over inequitable salary distributions in the BBL.