Rehan Ahmed is not 21 until August, but he has been in England’s plans in all three formats throughout the Bazball era.
The recurring question has been, though, what is Rehan?
Clearly, he is an ultra-confident youngster and a prodigious talent in various disciplines. But is he a rubber-wristed batsman who bowls a modern brand of flat leg-spin? Or a proper spinner whose batting is a bonus? Better at white ball, or red ball?
To butcher a line from Jimmy Ormond, some have even wondered if he is the best cricketer in his family given the emergence of his younger brother, Farhan Ahmed, who is 17 and seven matches into his first-class career with Nottinghamshire.
No one really seems to know. Not England, for whom he became the youngest men’s player in all three formats across the 2022/23 winter, including plucking him from obscurity to take a stunning five-wicket haul on Test debut in Karachi that December. Since then, he has played four more Tests and a handful of white-ball internationals as an understudy-cum-apprentice to Adil Rashid.
England clearly value him, even if they do not know how to develop him. Rehan has been a contracted player since October 2023, and was the only player to pop up on all five tours that England’s senior team went on this winter: Tests in Pakistan (where he played one match out of three), white ball in the West Indies (two of eight), Tests in New Zealand (none of three), white ball in India (none of eight) and the Champions Trophy (none of three).
Rehan’s county, Leicestershire, have always been eager to provide him opportunity as a batting all-rounder in the middle order, rather than the bowler he has been for England. With Championship matches often book-ending the season and conditions unkind to spinners, this experiment has worked – just. He has averaged a passable 34 with the bat, but in 22 matches has just 31 wickets at 53. Under normal circumstances, his place would be on the line.
Perhaps, though, amid a promising start to the new season, Leicestershire have stumbled across a solution that could suit both county and country. By accident, not design, Rehan has spent the last three innings – against Glamorgan then Derbyshire – opening the batting, while playing an even more peripheral role with the ball than usual.
Rehan has been promoted by England before, fulfilling the “Nighthawk” role in a chase on Test debut. Against Glamorgan, with a target of 51 needed to be polished off in double-quick time on the third evening, and regular opener Rishi Patel nursing a dislocated thumb, he was sent up the order.
With Patel ruled out of the game against Derbyshire, Rehan kept his place at the top of the order in a jack-of-all-trades team in which all-rounder Tom Scriven, who has eight first-class half-centuries and an average of 27, was carded to come in at No 11. Rehan made just 13 in the Foxes’ first innings of 484, but a dashing 77 from 59 balls in the second, building on a lead of 91.
A 32-ball 50 from Rehan Ahmed in his new role as an opener pic.twitter.com/oZCMijKo6i
— Rothesay County Championship (@CountyChamp) April 13, 2025
“It was lovely to get the opportunity to open the innings and I really enjoyed it,” he said. “We didn’t go out with any instructions on how to play but Sol [Budinger, his partner] is really positive at the other end, he tries to whack every ball as well, and we just tried to hit as many boundaries as we could.”
The kicker was that despite being fully fit, Rehan barely bowled. In the first innings, he was the sixth bowler used, taking none for 27. In the second, with a game to win on the final day, he was ignored until the last session of the match. He was the seventh bowler used and the part-time off-spinner Louis Kimber had trundled through nine overs by the time he came on. He was a little loose, and could not turn a game destined to be drawn Leicestershire’s way. They are top of Division Two, though.
Patel is not expected to be out for long, but if Rehan continues to make an impression and another opportunity arises at the top of the order, a permanent move could be possible.
So far with England, Rehan has appeared a batsman who responds positively to greater responsibility. Card him at No 9, he bats like a No 9. England have many doubts about their Test team: the top three’s durability, Stokes’s fitness, and who their best spinner is. Last week, Rob Key even floated the idea that a spinner may not be needed in the Ashes. “Spin hasn’t been playing much of a part in Australia, whether that’s India or Australia, with Nathan Lyon in that Border-Gavaskar Trophy,” he told Sky Sports.
If Rehan were to settle into a top-order role with Leicestershire so he could become a respectable Test No 7, it could even solve a problem for England, too.
Rehan Ahmed is not 21 until August, but he has been in England’s plans in all three formats throughout the Bazball era.
The recurring question has been, though, what is Rehan?
Clearly, he is an ultra-confident youngster and a prodigious talent in various disciplines. But is he a rubber-wristed batsman who bowls a modern brand of flat leg-spin? Or a proper spinner whose batting is a bonus? Better at white ball, or red ball?
To butcher a line from Jimmy Ormond, some have even wondered if he is the best cricketer in his family given the emergence of his younger brother, Farhan Ahmed, who is 17 and seven matches into his first-class career with Nottinghamshire.
No one really seems to know. Not England, for whom he became the youngest men’s player in all three formats across the 2022/23 winter, including plucking him from obscurity to take a stunning five-wicket haul on Test debut in Karachi that December. Since then, he has played four more Tests and a handful of white-ball internationals as an understudy-cum-apprentice to Adil Rashid.
England clearly value him, even if they do not know how to develop him. Rehan has been a contracted player since October 2023, and was the only player to pop up on all five tours that England’s senior team went on this winter: Tests in Pakistan (where he played one match out of three), white ball in the West Indies (two of eight), Tests in New Zealand (none of three), white ball in India (none of eight) and the Champions Trophy (none of three).
Rehan’s county, Leicestershire, have always been eager to provide him opportunity as a batting all-rounder in the middle order, rather than the bowler he has been for England. With Championship matches often book-ending the season and conditions unkind to spinners, this experiment has worked – just. He has averaged a passable 34 with the bat, but in 22 matches has just 31 wickets at 53. Under normal circumstances, his place would be on the line.
Perhaps, though, amid a promising start to the new season, Leicestershire have stumbled across a solution that could suit both county and country. By accident, not design, Rehan has spent the last three innings – against Glamorgan then Derbyshire – opening the batting, while playing an even more peripheral role with the ball than usual.
Rehan has been promoted by England before, fulfilling the “Nighthawk” role in a chase on Test debut. Against Glamorgan, with a target of 51 needed to be polished off in double-quick time on the third evening, and regular opener Rishi Patel nursing a dislocated thumb, he was sent up the order.
With Patel ruled out of the game against Derbyshire, Rehan kept his place at the top of the order in a jack-of-all-trades team in which all-rounder Tom Scriven, who has eight first-class half-centuries and an average of 27, was carded to come in at No 11. Rehan made just 13 in the Foxes’ first innings of 484, but a dashing 77 from 59 balls in the second, building on a lead of 91.
A 32-ball 50 from Rehan Ahmed in his new role as an opener pic.twitter.com/oZCMijKo6i
— Rothesay County Championship (@CountyChamp) April 13, 2025
“It was lovely to get the opportunity to open the innings and I really enjoyed it,” he said. “We didn’t go out with any instructions on how to play but Sol [Budinger, his partner] is really positive at the other end, he tries to whack every ball as well, and we just tried to hit as many boundaries as we could.”
The kicker was that despite being fully fit, Rehan barely bowled. In the first innings, he was the sixth bowler used, taking none for 27. In the second, with a game to win on the final day, he was ignored until the last session of the match. He was the seventh bowler used and the part-time off-spinner Louis Kimber had trundled through nine overs by the time he came on. He was a little loose, and could not turn a game destined to be drawn Leicestershire’s way. They are top of Division Two, though.
Patel is not expected to be out for long, but if Rehan continues to make an impression and another opportunity arises at the top of the order, a permanent move could be possible.
So far with England, Rehan has appeared a batsman who responds positively to greater responsibility. Card him at No 9, he bats like a No 9. England have many doubts about their Test team: the top three’s durability, Stokes’s fitness, and who their best spinner is. Last week, Rob Key even floated the idea that a spinner may not be needed in the Ashes. “Spin hasn’t been playing much of a part in Australia, whether that’s India or Australia, with Nathan Lyon in that Border-Gavaskar Trophy,” he told Sky Sports.
If Rehan were to settle into a top-order role with Leicestershire so he could become a respectable Test No 7, it could even solve a problem for England, too.
