All-rounder Justin Kemp, who scored a whirlwind 57 in South Africa’s 108 run victory over England in the fourth Standard Bank one-day international at Newlands, said on Monday that he should not be described as the ”new Lance Klusener”.
”If I could get anywhere close to what he achieved for South Africa, I’d be ecstatic,” said Kemp. ”Klusener and I are very different, although many people have tried to compare me to him.
”But then when I first started playing cricket at a senior level, I was always known as Dave Callaghan’s cousin, so I’ve got used to it. I do things my own way and I certainly don’t think of myself as a Klusener.”
Kemp, who returned to the South African one-day squad after a four-year absence, said he was relieved to have made a significant score in Sunday’s game. ”I felt under pressure, after not doing well the last time I played international cricket. I want to establish myself as a permanent member of the one-day team, and to do that I have to perform well.”
Kemp said the turnaround in his career had come about when he moved from Eastern Province to the Titans. ”I put some performances on the board there, and the whole set up there helped me professionally. I was able to talk to people like Darryl Cullinan, who helped me with my batting, and the wicket at Centurion suited my style of cricket more than Port Elizabeth,” he said.
He also feels he has matured considerably since he last played cricket for South Africa.
”You need to perform year in and year out, and show you have the potential at international level. My provincial experience has helped me internationally.”
Kemp said many people regarded him as a one-day specialist, but he believed he had the ability and the mental strength to play Test cricket as well.
”My greatest dream is to play Test cricket,” he said. ”I believe the number six batsman plays as important a role in Test cricket as in one-day cricket,” he said. ”I want to be the kind of player that can take the game away from the other side.”
Regarding the current series against England, Kemp said the South Africans were not going to sit and relax.
”England are a really good side,” he said. ”But we’ve had a great confidence boost, winning two games in a row.
”There’s a real sense of confidence in the team, and there’s also a sense of happiness, with plenty of smiles on and off the field.”
He said that while many people saw the tied match in Bloemfontein as a failure on South Africa’s part, the team had taken heart from their performance there, and regarded it as the turning point in the series.
”We chased 270 under lights, against a really strong team, and although things went wrong in the last over, and many people, including the media, said negative things about us, we saw it as a positive — we realised we could win. So if we go on to win the series, our victory started in Bloemfontein,” said Kemp. – Sapa