Rehan’s leg breaks fuel England hopes

Getting Stokes out when he was 12 was an early sign of his promise.

Given the paucity of leg-spinners from England over the years, the sight of a teen giving the ball an almighty rip can trigger a wave of expectations. That is what Rehan Ahmed may have to encounter after three consecutive four-wicket hauls in the U-19 World Cup in the Caribbean. His latest effort - 4/41 against Afghanistan in the semi-final - once again illustrated not just Ahmed’s skills but also his temperament in pressure situations.

Rehan Ahmed of England's Under-19 World Cup team.  (Getty)

Born to Pakistani immigrants in Nottingham, Ahmed had conceded 40 runs in five overs for one wicket when England skipper Tom Prest decided to throw him the ball in the penultimate over of Afghanistan’s run chase. It was a bold call as Afghanistan needed 19 in the final two overs with four wickets in hand, but the 17-year-old delivered three wickets in the space of six balls to secure England’s passage to the final. Ahmed’s preceding hauls came against South Africa in the quarter-final and United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the group stage.

Ahmed is no stranger to challenges. In 2016, when he was about to turn 12, Ahmed was invited by the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) to be a net bowler for the England Test squad at Lord’s. He not only bowled but also made an immediate impression by getting Ben Stokes out. “That was an unbelievable experience,” Ahmed, who plays for Leicestershire in England’s domestic circuit, told inews.co.uk recently. “I got Stokes out. I also bowled to Alastair Cook and Joe Root. When I got Ben out, he got quite angry. So I didn’t celebrate too much. I wanted to bowl as well as possible, so I tried to imagine that I was just bowling to a club batter.”

He was invited to Lord’s for the second year running in 2017. This time, a 13-year-old Ahmed also got to meet Shane Warne and pick the Aussie legend’s brains on the art of leg-spin bowling. Ahmed’s mode of operation is very similar to the modern breed of leg-spinners. His leg-breaks don’t turn much but Ahmed more than makes up for that with extravagant spin off his wrong’un that has contributed to most of his wickets at the U-19 World Cup. Like most spinners, Ahmed began by harbouring a desire to bowl fast. “But I couldn’t bowl bouncers because I was too small,” he said in that interview. “If I was going to bowl seam, then I wanted to be fast. I was having a net with a close friend and our fathers one day. His dad told me to try off-spin. I bowled one ball that didn’t land properly, so then I tried leg-spin. It landed half-decently and I stuck with it. I also realised that there weren’t too many leg spinners in the world. I wanted to be different.”

When England take on India in the final on Saturday, Ahmed will possibly undergo a better assessment of where he stands. The likes of Yash Dhull and Shaik Rasheed milked the Australian spinners with ease in the semi-final and are unlikely to let any of his loose deliveries go unpunished. But if Ahmed can outfox Indian batters, it will be a timely reminder that the Stokes dismissal was no fluke.