In a bold move straight out of the Bazball handbook, Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum have plucked teenage leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed away from Leicestershire and added him to the England squad as cover for Moeen Ali for next week’s second Ashes Test at Lord’s.
Ahmed, who is just 18, made his Test debut against Pakistan in Karachi last year, took seven wickets in the match and displayed the sort of big-match temperament that England are now looking for. But his international experience is limited to that one Test, a single ODI and two Twenty20s.
The call-up is something of a surprise. Surrey’s Will Jacks was expected to be the next spinner in line as cover for Moeen, who developed a blister on his spinning fingers during the first Test at Edgbaston. He could only bowl 14 overs in Australia’s victorious second innings chase. Joe Root sent down 15.
England will reconvene on Sunday hopeful that Moeen’s dodgy digit will recover before the second Test, which starts on Wednesday. McCullum has already confirmed the 36-year-old will play if fit. If he is not, the hosts could rely on Root and play four seamers.
Ben Stokes (Durham) Captain, Rehan Ahmed (Leicestershire), Moeen Ali (Warwickshire), James Anderson (Lancashire), Jonathan Bairstow (Yorkshire), Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire), Harry Brook (Yorkshire), Zak Crawley (Kent), Ben Duckett (Nottinghamshire), Dan Lawrence (Essex), Ollie Pope (Surrey), Matthew Potts, (Durham), Ollie Robinson (Sussex), Joe Root (Yorkshire), Josh Tongue (Worcestershire), Chris Woakes (Warwickshire), Mark Wood (Durham).
Ahmed’s callowness also extends to first-class cricket. In seven Championship games for Leicestershire in Division Two this summer he has collected just six wickets at 67.66 , although his average of 38.45 with the bat might have helped tip things in his favour.
That includes 90 against a Glamorgan side including Michael Neser and Marnus Labuschagne and an unbeaten 50 against a Sussex side containing Steve Smith. If Ahmed does get the nod at Lord’s, he would be the second youngest man to play in an Ashes Test and the youngest since 1877.
“I couldn’t be happier for him,” said McCullum after Ahmed’s Test debut. “It will give other kids around England some motivation that if you work hard enough and you’ve got skill and the game is your passion, then you can actually achieve it, maybe sooner than you thought.”
