NSW selector Stuart Clark has asked Cricket Australia for a ‘please explain’ after claiming the Blues were forced to pick Adam Zampa for last week’s Sheffield Shield game against Tasmania.

Zampa – a white ball star for Australia – had not played a first class game since February last year but was parachuted in ahead of fellow leg-spinner Tanveer Sangha in a bid to press his claims for next year’s Test series in Sri Lanka.

The 32-year-old is yet to make his Test debut.

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Tasmania won by 55 runs and Zampa took match figures of 4-140.

Cricket Australia high performance manager Ben Oliver said NSW had been given no directive to pick Zampa for the match at the SCG.

But Clark – the former Test fast bowler who is also on the NSW board – disputed that in an interview with ABC Radio.

“The problem I have with it… 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 said.

“Quite frankly, I don’t understand what the comment of Cricket Australia is because we didn’t need to have a robust debate about his selection. His selection was a foregone conclusion that he was in the team…

“I’m going to ask (chief executive) Lee Germon from Cricket NSW to clear this up by writing to Cricket Australia perhaps and put my board member’s hat on because we don’t understand this.

“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 – 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.”

Australia’s women’s captain Alyssa Healy discussed the situation on the Willow Talk Podcast.

“It’s a hard one to answer. I can see maybe why they’ve gone down that path but you are kind of taking the piss a little bit of the baggy blue,” Healy said.

Test legend Mark Taylor was also critical.

“I just think that this selection is a very bad one – obviously he [Zampa] doesn’t really want to play first class cricket,” Taylor said.