How Kemp & Gibson are solving England’s batting problem

June 21, 2026 No Comments

How Kemp & Gibson are solving England’s batting problemFigure caption, Kemp and Gibson ‘pummel’ Scotland in England winByMatthew HenryBBC Sport journalist at HeadingleyPublished8 hours agoCharlotte Edwards thinks, external England could have won last year’s 50-over World Cup had Freya Kemp and Dani Gibson been available.

The pair were both ruled out with back injuries. England reached the semi-finals but exited with little more than a whimper with a familiar problem laid bare.

When the field was set back, England struggled to hit boundaries. It is a topic that has dogged a team for a generation.

But, on Saturday against Scotland at Headingley, Kemp and Gibson provided the ultimate validation of Edwards’ words.

They showed why they had persuaded the England coach, despite limited returns to that point at international level, to have no doubt in making ‘Kemp-son’ her engine room.

Together they shared a thrilling unbroken partnership of 61 from just 21 deliveries, which proved far too good for Scotland and set up a 38-run win.

More importantly, with tougher tests to come, it suggests they have changed the game for England.

They finally have finishers to be feared.

England closing in on T20 semis spot with win over Scotland

Sophia Dunkley, who made 57 on her return before the onslaught, is one of those who has been tried in that finishing role.

Now batting in the top three, she agrees the team have been given a new dimension.

“We’ve probably lacked a little bit of power at the back-end and it’s nice to have some real six-hitters coming in and giving us some momentum,” she reported.

England’s aversion to acceleration was laid bare in the third Ashes T20 last year. In that defeat, they hit only three boundaries after the powerplay.

More widely across 2025, England’s numbers six and seven, the positions filled by Kemp and Gibson at this World Cup, scored at a strike-rate of exactly 100 across 17 innings in T20s. They hit fewer than 6% of their deliveries to the boundary.

This year their boundary percentage sits at almost 28% and their strike-rate is a punishing 181.92.

“It’s a huge difference from where they were last year,” England World Cup winner Alex Hartley reported.

“Freya Kemp, when she’s healthy, can hit the ball powerfully. It doesn’t even look like she’s hitting the ball and it goes flying.”

Former England batter Ebony Rainford-Brent reported the pair are “solving a problem”, while ex-seamer Katherine Sciver-Brunt added: “It was one of those partnerships that we’ve all been dying for – it was one that England needed to happen going into the latter stages.”

Impressive England beat Scotland to close on semis
England make it three out of three with impressive win over Scotland
Sciver-Brunt out of England’s next two World Cup matches

Kemp played in that dismal Ashes defeat, but soon after her back troubles returned.

It meant months of frustration, but time to work on her batting. She played a full summer for Hampshire, solely contributing with willow in hand.

Gibson, meanwhile, missed the Ashes entirely. She, too, had a back injury and the inability to bowl allowed more time to work on her batting through the winter.

In particular, she looked to improve her off-side game – and in the final over on Saturday she twice slammed Scotland’s Priyanaz Chatterji through the covers.

“I was very leg-side dominant in the past so trying to get through the off side was a work on and it is going very well,” Gibson told Sky Sports.

If Lauren Bell and Linsey Smith are England’s tall and short, spin and seam, bowling yin and yang, Kemp and Gibson – who were both signed in The Hundred for more than £100,000 – are similarly complementary.

Rangy left-hander Kemp hits cleanly straight or, as shown with her two sixes against Scotland, over mid-wicket.

The right-handed Gibson can crunch the ball straight, but is more adept in finding boundaries behind square.

It makes their partnership horrible for bowlers.

“Kempy’s got so much power down the ground and Gibbo can hit square,” Dunkley reported.

“They’re a great combination and to have a partnership like that at the end gives us as a top order a lot of confidence.”

Two wagon wheels that show Freya Kemp and Dani Gibson's boundaries in T20 internationals for England. Kemp hits more down the ground and into the leg side while Gibson has more success through the off side — Image caption,

Left-hander Freya Kemp (left) tends to target the leg side and down the ground, while right-hander Dani Gibson (right) is able to hit through the off side

That top order includes Danni Wyatt-Hodge, whose 105 not out lit up the first night of the tournament, Dunkley and Alice Capsey, possibly England’s most in-form batter.

There is, of course, captain Nat Sciver-Brunt to, hopefully, return from a calf injury.

It is Kemp, though, who Dunkley believes is the longest hitter of the lot.

“If I have to put money on it, I’d probably go with Kempy,” she reported.

Though it was Gibson’s hit in the 19th over, which had spectators scattering for cover in Headingley’s second tier, that was the highlight of Saturday, Gibson does not appear keen to disagree.

“I get very scared at the non-striker’s end when Freya is batting because she absolutely smashes the ball,” she reported.

This partnership has come too late for one World Cup. It could yet arrive right on time for another.

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