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 in the aftermath of Saturday’s win.
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.
The slender and rangy left-hander Kemp, almost Ben Stokes-like with a flowing bat swing, hits cleanly straight or, as shown with her two sixes against Scotland, over mid-wicket.
Right-hander Gibson, whose power is less startling given her squatter frame, can crunch the ball straight but is more adept in finding boundaries behind square.
It makes their partnership horrible for a bowler.
“Kempy’s got so much power down the ground and Gibbo can hit square,” Dunkley said.
“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.”
