Adam Zampa Joins Hobart Hurricanes for BBL16

Adam Zampa will walk into yet another Big Bash dressing room this summer, trading Renegades red for Hurricanes purple and joining his fifth franchise in a remarkable BBL odyssey.

The 34-year-old leg-spinner has signed a two-year deal with the Hobart Hurricanes for the 2026/27 season, as reported by SEN’s Tom Morris, adding serious experience to a side that has quietly built itself into a contender.

Zampa’s BBL road trip adds a new stop

Zampa’s move comes at an intriguing moment in his career. He has just shifted his state allegiance from New South Wales to Queensland for the domestic season and had been heavily linked with the Brisbane Heat. Instead, it’s Hobart that has secured one of the league’s most seasoned operators.

The Hurricanes finished third in BBL15, backing up their maiden title defence the previous year. They know what a deep run looks like now. What they don’t have yet is a long history of sustained dominance. Zampa’s arrival speaks to that ambition.

For all his international success – central to Australia’s T20 World Cup win in 2021 and the ODI World Cup triumph in 2023 – one glaring gap remains on his resume: a BBL title. He has played in 14 of the league’s 15 seasons and still has nothing to show for it in terms of silverware.

He has come close. Very close.

Zampa started at Sydney Thunder, then moved to the Adelaide Strikers for BBL03. His prime years, though, were in Melbourne green. Eight seasons with the Melbourne Stars brought three finals – 2015/16, 2018/19 and 2019/20 – and three defeats. After that came a surprise switch across town to the Melbourne Renegades.

Now it is Hobart’s turn.

Crucially for the Hurricanes, Zampa is expected to be available for the entire BBL16 campaign. Australia has no limited-overs commitments from December 2026 to February 2027, with the calendar dominated by four home Tests against New Zealand and a five-Test tour of India. For a league so often disrupted by international call-ups, uninterrupted access to a frontline white-ball spinner is a luxury.

A fifth club, a fresh colour, the same mission: finally get his hands on a Big Bash trophy.

Perth’s latest English import: Harrison joins the Scorchers

On the other side of the country, another leg-spinner is packing his bags.

Calvin Harrison will join the Perth Scorchers for his first professional stint outside England, becoming the second Englishman in a day to sign on for BBL16 after Ben Stokes’ blockbuster move to the Adelaide Strikers.

Harrison doesn’t arrive with Stokes’ star power, but Perth know exactly what they’re doing with English recruits. Their roll call of past imports in orange is long and glittering: Matt Hurst, Keaton Jennings, Zak Crawley, David Payne, Stephen Eskinazi, Adam Lyth, Tymal Mills, Laurie Evans, Jason Roy, Joe Clarke, Liam Livingstone, Chris Jordan, Tim Bresnan, Ian Bell, David Willey, Michael Carberry, Paul Collingwood. Harrison is stepping into a well-worn pathway.

At 28, his story already spans three countries. Born in South Africa, raised in New Zealand, he eventually joined Somerset’s Academy as a teenager and has since carved out a reputation as one of England’s most effective T20 spinners.

The numbers back that up: 97 wickets at 22.28 across 99 T20 matches, with ten wickets at 19.7 in this year’s Hundred. Those are the kind of figures that catch the eye of a franchise built on ruthless efficiency.

Perth, six-time BBL champions, thrive on bowlers who can strangle teams in the middle overs and still strike. Harrison fits that brief. This is his first venture into the global circuit, his first taste of Australian conditions, and his first crack at a league where reputations are made quickly and forgotten even quicker.

Zampa chasing an elusive title in new colours. Harrison stepping into the furnace with the Scorchers. Different stages of their careers, same stage for their next act: a Big Bash season that suddenly looks a lot more interesting.