Freya Kemp burst onto the scene in the 2022 Charlotte Edwards Cup where, aged just 17 years old, her left-arm seamers picked up the second most wickets for the Vipers - 9 - whilst she scored 54 runs at more than a run-a-ball.
Kemp then continued her form in the early stages of the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy, scoring 46 runs in two matches, at an astonishing strike rate of 158.62.
Her performances and promise with both bat and ball earnt her a call-up to the England-A squad, and she played in a T20 and an ODI warmup match against South Africa.
England Head Coach Lisa Keightley then named Kemp in her 15-player IT20 squad against South Africa.
She won her maiden England cap in the third and final IT20 against the Proteas, where she completed a tidy return of 2-18 in three overs.
Kemp remained in the squad for the first-ever women’s cricket event in the Commonwealth Games, and the 17-year-old responded by leading the wicket tallies for the host nation, picking up more poles than veteran seamer Katherine Brunt, 20 years Kemp's senior, and against India in September 2022, Kemp became the youngest ever Englishwoman to score an IT20 half-century at the age of 17 years and 145 days.
Strong T20 performances earned Kemp an ODI debut at Canterbury where she took the wicket of Pooja Vastrekar for 18. In the final match of the international summer, Kemp dismissed Jhulan Goswami for a golden duck, and followed it up with the wicket of Renuka Singh Thakur, also for a duck, to finish with figures of 2-24.
Having made her mark firmly on the international scene in just her first year playing in the Vipers' first XI, Kemp was awarded her maiden ECB central contract in November 2022.
In the winter of 2022, Kemp suffered a stress fracture which saw her out of contention for the early part of the 2023 season, making her return against The Blaze at Derby in the Charlotte Edwards Cup.
Playing as a specialist batter whilst working on her rehab, she struggled for the first half of the summer, reaching 20 only three times before the Hundred.
However, she blitzed a Vipers best of 47 against Western Storm, being dismissed one hit away from a maiden Vipers half-century.
Playing a second season for Southern Brave, Kemp once again found form difficult to come by in the early part of the tournament, but a dramatic showing at Utilita Bowl as the Brave chased down 131 with four balls remaining against Oval Invincibles gave Kemp her confidence back.
She smashed 41 from just 21 balls, smashing three fours and two sixes – one of them to win the match, and scored 79 runs as the Brave Women lifted the Hundred trophy for the first time.
Kemp was then called up to the England Women IT20 squad to face Sri Lanka where she scored 23 runs as Sri Lanka completed a historic first series victory against England.
Back in Vipers colours, Kemp scored 121 runs in the final four games of the season, and played arguably her best innings for the club in the final, as her 32* helped the Vipers to a five-wicket win against The Blaze, an innings which Charlotte Edwards called a ‘massive highlight’.
Freya Kemp in Numbers:
- Matches: 24
- Runs: 359
- Batting Average: 22.44
- High Score: 47 (v Western Storm, RHFT, 2023)
- Wickets: 10
- Bowling Average: 19.10
- Best Bowling: 2-13 (v Thunder, CEC, 2022)
