Cricket New South Wales has clarified that Adam Zampa’s selection for last week’s Sheffield Shield against Tasmania was not a directive from Cricket Australia despite recent comments from state selector Stuart Clark.

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The 32-year-old, hoping to push his case for the upcoming Test tour of Sri Lanka, was picked ahead of Blues leg-spinner Tanveer Sangha for the SCG match, a decision that prompted backlash from several former NSW players.

World Cup champion Zampa, who hadn’t played a Sheffield Shield match since February 2023, claimed 4-140 from 40.2 overs across both innings as Tasmania secured a 55-run victory.

Zampa, who lives in Byron Bay and doesn’t train with NSW, rarely gets an opportunity to play Sheffield Shield cricket due to white-ball commitments — since the start of 2020, he has taken ten wickets at 28.70 across three matches in the red-ball competition.

However, next year’s Sri Lanka tour looms as one of the last chances he’ll get to receive a coveted baggy green. If national selectors decide to take a leg-spinner for the two-Test tour, he’ll be one of the leading candidates alongside Queensland’s Mitchell Swepson.

“I wouldn’t say it’s a total burning desire. It’s something I’d like to do and challenge myself at,” Zampa said last week.

“If I got to end my career and it didn’t pan out that way then I’d be OK with it.

“I might look back one day and feel like maybe I didn’t give it a 100 per cent crack, and I feel like playing these games and putting my hand up for the Sri Lanka tour and being keen for that is fine.”

Last week, CA’s head of high performance Ben Oliver declared that selection for Sheffield Shield matches was “very much the realm of the state association”. However, Clark offered a differing version of events, claiming the state selectors were forced to pick Zampa for the SCG clash.

“When it came to Adam Zampa, we didn’t have a discussion because there was no need to — we were told he had to play,” Clark told ABC Grandstand on Saturday.

“We didn’t need to have a robust debate about his selection. His selection was a foregone conclusion that he was in the team.

“What we were told to do, and what’s coming out in the press, is exactly the opposite. They don’t make sense. Either we as selectors have got it wrong – I don’t know, did we misunderstand?

“But I’m pretty clear because I’ve got messages that say Adam Zampa must be in the team and there is no point discussing his selection.

“If he wants to be part of the NSW four-day set-up, he needs to come to training and play grade cricket”.

A Cricket NSW spokesperson has since confirmed Zampa’s selection was not a CA directive, while Zampa took umbrage at Clark’s comments.

“I thought it was a strange comment from a selector. They weren’t forced to pick me,” Zampa told Cricket Et Al.

“I know I haven’t played grade cricket for a while, but this takes me back.”

Zampa also revealed that national selector George Bailey told him he would have played the Prime Minister’s XI match in Canberra if he wasn’t picked for the Sheffield Shield game.

When asked to elaborate on his remarks while speaking to Sky Sports Radio’s Big Sports Breakfast on Monday morning, Clark said: “I’ve left it with Cricket NSW to sort out now.

“Cricket NSW are sorting it out with Cricket Australia as we speak, so probably best I leave it at that.

“I’m sure they’ll find a solution

“At the end of the day, everyone wants the best for Australian cricket. It’s just how do we get to that point?”

Former Australian captain Mark Taylor claimed that Zampa’s selection ahead of Sangha, who has played 12 first-class matches since his Sheffield Shield debut in 2021, sent the wrong message to the state’s young cricketers.

“I just think that this selection is a very bad one,” Taylor said.

“Obviously (Zampa) doesn’t really want to play first-class cricket. I don’t like the selection, I really don’t.

“I think that’s a really bad message to be sending to young cricketers in any state.”

Former NSW wicketkeeper Brad Haddin also voiced his displeasure with Zampa’s selection, telling the Willow Talk Podcast: “I’m an Adam Zampa fan … but I don’t think he should be playing this Shield game. He doesn’t come to training, he’s not part of the NSW system. I just think it sends a real bad message to our younger players in the squad.

“I think NSW have really let their standards drop there.”

Australian captain Alyssa Healy continued: “I can see maybe why they’ve gone down that path … but you are kind of taking the p*** a little bit (out of) the baggy blue.”

NSW will next face reigning champions Western Australia at the SCG, with the match commencing on Friday.