Photo: www.davidmolloyphotography.com via Flickr, CC BY 2.0, cropped.
Vegan leg-spinner Adam Zampa is a world champion. Australia beat hosts India by six wickets in the Cricket World Cup final at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Sunday, November 19, in front of 92,453 fans, to lift the trophy for a sixth time.
Travis Head took the headlines with 137 in the chase, but Zampa did his job with the ball again. He bowled his ten overs for 44 runs and a wicket as India, unbeaten until today, were bowled out for 240 (match details).
That wicket was his 23rd of the tournament, from 11 matches. It's the most ever taken by an Australian spinner at a World Cup, and it ties Muttiah Muralitharan's record for the most wickets by a spinner at a single World Cup, according to his Wikipedia record. Only India's Mohammed Shami took more at this tournament.
Zampa had the most wickets of any bowler at the end of the group stage, and he took four wickets in three consecutive matches. He even starred with the bat against England, hitting 29 off 19 balls.
Zampa has been vegan since 2013, and his reason has nothing to do with sport. He explained it to Great Vegan Athletes:
I met some animals, some cows, and just thought, 'This isn't food. They're sentient beings who deserve a life as well'.
He has fronted campaigns for PETA, and on tour he packs his own vegan food, from miso soup to packet mac and vegan cheese, as he told BBC Sport. Six weeks of long spells in the Indian heat, and all of it fueled by plants.
Zampa was also Australia's leading spinner when they won their first T20 World Cup two years ago. It has been quite an autumn for plant-powered athletes. In September Novak Djokovic won his 24th Grand Slam at 36, and last month Harvey Lewis ran a world record 108 laps at Big's Backyard Ultra.
No meat, no problem.