Justin Kemp – the Effigy of efficient cricket

(Karthik Narayan)

South Africa have had the flair for producing fluent fairy tale cricketers such as Hansie Cronje, Allan Donald, Pollock and more recently Lance Klusener. Fait Accompli shall be this Moral of Cricket. And it has been a luxurious fantasy not to be enjoyed by many teams; much to the chagrin of opposition bowlers, in comes in the New Age Breed of the same Clan – arriving with the bang of a Sling Shot, yet announcing his name for all the world to see and read thus – Justin Miles Kemp.

A medley of many talents, this natural cricketer hails from Queenstown, Cape Province. Being the cousin of former South African International Cricketer Dave Callaghan is another feather in Kemp’s cap.

Kemp represented Eastern Province, Northerns and the Titans before making his test debut for South Africa, following some real good performances in the local arena. His test debut came with him being used mainly as a medium pacer who batted way down the order as a batsman who liked to swing the bat and connect for valuable runs.

His test debut came against Sri Lanka at Centurion in the 3rd and Final test when Sri Lanka toured the Proteas in 2001. His big hitting in the domestic set up had built up such a great reputation for Kemp, putting unnecessary pressure even as he made his debut. Nothing was seen of his brave batting. The next series against West Indies was also nothing to write home about. His off the field behavior such as smoking marijuana gave him enough trouble to be distracted from what he was in the news for.

His ODI debut came in that same series as his test debut in 2001 against Sri Lanka at Bloemfontein, but the fluency required of him did not come when it was tested most. His bowling was decent in that series and then again versus the West Indies. He had not really shined in the batting department thus far. By the time the next series sprung up, Kemp was not considered in the test squads, and was to become one more of Cricket’s “ODI Specialists” in the mould of a Bevan, Jadeja or a Robin Singh.

Having big reputations, he did not do much in the first few opportunities he got – his efficiency was too well known for slim and sleek sixers in the local circuits. But, nothing of his big hitting was seen in the International arena. He always carried the reputation as a husky dusky and clean striker of the ball and blow the bowlers away – he has the remarkable South African record of hitting 5 sixers in one over in a domestic match. His first few matches did not see anything from the bat, Kempie (as he is known to those close to him) however, made some decent bowling for the team and retained his place now and then.

But the South African selectors maybe thought that they were luxuriously drafting this lad into the team that they decided to send him back to the drawing board to get new ideas and impress with good performances. It took Kemp as much as 3 more years to break back into the team. After the VB series in Australia in 2001-02, his next ODI came only in the England Tour of South Africa at Johannesburg in 2004-05.

Efficiency was to be what the doctor ordered for Kemp to stick back a place in the South African team. What he needed was a watershed to kick off his bad habits of poor scores and unleash the beast within. True to his name, he has come Miles out of his skin and played many a good knock in the recent seasons and has already evoked comparisons to that sweet son of South African Soil – Lance “Zulu” Klusener!

From the lows of the deep ocean, Kemp sprang up the troubled waters with a scuba set in the form of the England tour to the Protean soil. Kemp scorched the sun with a blistering innings of 57 in the 4th ODI at Cape Town (that was his first ODI fifty). The very next match, he went scuba diving became the trump card with a sequel innings that was even better than the previous match – he had the English bowlers for brunch, lunch and dinner! With an innings of 80 that shall remain in any South African’s scrap book for some years to come. That was pure match winning with classy and blitzy hauls over the fielders and clearing the boundaries with minimum risks for maximum results.

Purely scintillating to watch when he bats, his next great knock came all in the form of short sweet bursts against the touring Zimbabweans at Durban when he scooped a neat 53* in shorter balls and followed it with a classy and snipped and snapped the Zimbabweans everywhere with another match winning 78.

The best thing about this gifted cricketer is that he is efficient and eases the ball out of sight in no time. Don’t worry about technique – this player is of the New Age Heroes with shoot at sight orders at all times! His right arm medium is good enough with stump to stump operations.

Just for the record, Justin Kemp has MILES to go to even catch up with Klusener. It is interesting to note that Klusener had a Golden test Debut and was an immediate success in both forms of the game. It would be unfair to compare that “Scorpion of many of a bowling attack” to this “new scholar on the field”.

All hail this newcomer to cricket who is becoming one of cricket’s images of efficiency. One may know more of the hailstorms that this cricketer launches, from the Zimbabweans and the English who bore the maximum brunt of this short yet super stint of Kemp with South Africa. While all is early and dusky for enlightening ourselves with the brightness that Kemp has shown thus far, all is well that ends well for a promising future by this all rounder who has earned his claims to fame! Good luck to the lad for the seasons to come.