As the Hundred fires into primary-coloured summer action, all free T-shirts and AI fan photos, the Spin has been putting her feet up, coffee in one hand, notebook in the other, chewing over the Championship season to date.
If the notebook has proved a bitter disappointment, scribbled with long-forgotten three for 67s, the ruminations have been fun. It’s been a season of surprises – Leicestershire! Lancashire! – and memorable moments, from Tom Banton’s 371 in the very first game to Ian Botham’s thunder and fury over Somerset’s field-of-onions pitch for the game against Durham.
But in all the gin joints, in all the towns, the one player to have left the biggest impression is young, still so young Rehan Ahmed – who celebrates his 21st birthday on Wednesday.
Ahmed, you’ll remember, made a precocious debut for England in Karachi in December 2022, aged just 18 years and 126 days, nudging Brian Close into the wings – which is quite some feat in itself. With his wheeling leg-breaks he fizzed five for 48 in the second innings, to help England to an eight-wicket victory, and looked feet-on-the sofa at home in the Bazball set-up. Since then, he’s played here and there, another four Tests, plus six ODIs and 10 T20s, but nothing since last autumn.
Progress after his Test debut was haphazard, as you’d expect for a teenager yet to settle in his own skin. In 2024, he played eight Championship games for Leicestershire, made four 50s and averaged 33 with the bat. With the ball, he pocketed 13 wickets at a less than dreamy 60.69.
This year, with just three games of the season to come, he has played in 10, and is averaging more than 50, with five centuries (the joint leading hundred-scorer in Division Two, alongside Kent’s Ben Compton and Saif Zaib – who has had a fantastic season for Northamptonshire). With the ball, the improvement has been even more precipitous, with 23 wickets at an average of 19 – and much of that bowling on the merciless Grace Road square.
But the figures only sketch an outline, and Ahmed is a technicolour player, an energy bath bomb with a textbook technique. The Spin has been lucky enough to watch him razzle-dazzle two hundreds in the flesh this year – both against Lancashire, one at Old Trafford, one at Grace Road, opponent-draining, sparkling innings so much better than the previous blind boundary biffing. He added another against Kent, another against Glamorgan and became the first Englishman to take 13 wickets and score a century in a first-class game since Ian Botham in the Jubilee Test of 1980, after taking Derbyshire to the cleaners with both bat and ball.
His season to remember has tickled the spectators at Grace Road, as well as the playing staff. And not only because because of his role in firing them towards promotion to Division One, now only a fingertip away. He is also a genuinely popular young man.
On the field, a move up the order has brought more responsibility, something that he has relished. And with the ball he has found more control – whereas previously a first over of a spell might have been loose, and gone for 10 runs, this year he’s kept on top of the scoreboard. Those who’ve watched him from the sidelines have seen a subtle shift – from someone who was always a good teammate to someone who wants to take his game to the next level. Someone who, from the first moment of pre-season, meant business.
Claude Henderson is Leicestershire’s director of cricket. “I think there is much more to come, we’re not even close to seeing Rehan Ahmed’s best,” he says. “There is a massive ceiling there. It must be very exciting for England to watch – having Rehan in the top six would solve a lot of problems for them. It is very exciting for us too!
after newsletter promotion
“I’ve always said you’ve got a hell of a batsman there. The skills and the hunger and the passion – that’s what shines out, that’s what I saw in his eyes when he was 18 years old. He’s a very honest young man, he just wants to play cricket, loves a challenge, what you see is what you get.
“His introduction to cricket happened very quickly and that creates a bit of pressure but he’s come through with flying colours. His fitness has improved, his bowling has improved, which is really good to see, he is more mature. He’s grown up a bit and all while scoring the runs, taking the wickets, with a massive smile on his face.”
Would Henderson take Ahmed on the Ashes tour, with all the pressures that brings? “I would definitely consider him. I know what he can offer. If they are comfortable that he can bat in the top seven, then you’ve got an all-rounder up your sleeve. He has shown in the Championship, and now in the Hundred, what he is capable of with the bat. He’s changed the whole perception of Rehan Ahmed – hold on a sec, I can bat, give me a go, I can win you a game with bat and ball.”
Happy birthday Rehan, may your summer continue to sizzle and your winter entertain you, and us, royally.
