Kemp, 19, claimed two wickets with his left-arm seam in all three matches of the T20I leg of the multi-format series last week, and bowled his entire allotment of overs in his emphatic nine-wicket win at Centurion on Saturday.
Kemp has suffered two stress fractures in his back in recent years, the first of which prevented him from bowling competitively for 14 months, but Knight insisted his retirement from the ODI and Test teams in South Africa was due to to an excess of caution, rather than an excess of caution. a recurrence of the injury.
“It wasn’t originally part of the plan,” Knight said on the eve of the first ODI in Kimberley. “We were hoping to have her available for all three formats but obviously with her history of back injuries, she is someone we have to manage very closely and look after a lot.
“We are devastated to lose her,” Knight added. “She’s a great person to have in the group and obviously a very exciting prospect for us. But the right thing for Freya to do was to go home and have a look at how her back is and then hopefully move on to those Ashes.
“We are very hopeful that he will be fit and available, but it is difficult with stress fractures. You just have to be a little careful with the loads. Obviously he was able to participate in all three games, so it is a great opportunity.” “It’s a good sign, but the decision was made that she wouldn’t be in a place to be ready for the one-dayers and the test.”
England’s 3-0 victory in the T20Is means they will guarantee themselves at least a share of the multi-format series if they can win the first ODI in Kimberley on Wednesday, with two more over-50s matches in Durban and Potchefstroom, and the single test starting in Bloemfontein on December 15.
With the Ashes approaching in January, England’s longest-form specialists Tammy Beaumont and Kate Cross are back in contention as Knight’s team look to fine-tune their over-50s plans after a successful summer series against Pakistan and New Zealand. There is a used track in the offing at the Diamond Oval, which is expected to offer less pace than what was offered in the last two T20Is.
“We haven’t played a lot of ODI cricket recently, so it’s a format I really enjoy playing,” Knight said. “Everyone is very excited to get into the longer format and have a little more time to execute their skills and build plans around a one-day game.”
“Obviously with the Ashes, we’re not looking too far into the future,” he added. “Continuing to be successful on this tour will naturally be the way we are going to build towards the Ashes. We will be focusing a lot on South Africa and what they will bring to us tomorrow.”
