Rehan Ahmed

Oh my God, Sam.

"I'd like to say Rehan Ahmed given extended run by the England team.

I can't think of any reason why he wouldn't do what Dan Lawrence did.

Um, I'm just trying to skim through it.

And, um, and I mean, he wasn't the only one who, who put a shift in.

[chime] I mean, Rehan Ahmed came in at the start of day three, because I was only, I was only able to go Friday and Saturday because of the, uh, weekday scheduling.

But-

Yeah

... uh, after this slightly delayed start Friday morning, Ahmed came in after we'd lost the wickets.

The last, I think, uh, Sheridan Gums was out last ball of the day on day two.

Rehan Ahmed came in, ca- kept his head down, remembered he was playing a longer format game, and, um, played well for his 54.

And, um, whilst towards the end of the second day, a few, a few wickets went, we, um, I think, uh, Friday...

Um, Liam Patterson-White is doing quite good things at Nottinghamshire.

Uh, I was amazed that Rehan Ahmed actually wasn't included in the six, um, however many they picked for this squad against Pakistan, because if we had played on a relatively dry surface, I wondered whether he, because he's quite a good batsman, whether he could have batted seven and been a spin option.

Yeah.

And I think when we go abroad, we're gonna have to consider that sort of selection.

He hasn't bowled enough overs and of course, as a leg spinner, it's not easy to do that, to get that consistency in first class cricket.

And he also would be learning a little bit on the job.

However, he is talented, and I think that given how bare the cupboard is, at least you know if you pick Rehan Ahmed, he's gonna contribute to the team.

He can get some valuable runs, reasonable fielder, and he could, his leg spin could get wickets, even if he's-

They have lots of sort of project players, I guess you could call them.

Players like Rehan Ahmed, Shoaib Bashir, uh, Hartley.

Hmm.

Like players who've played at international level before and have had some success.

But it, it's clearly not gonna be all right in Sri Lanka, probably Bangladesh, India.

Um, but then you just reorder and rebalance your side accordingly, don't you? You find, you find an all-rounder or a spinning all-rounder, you know, somebody like Rehan Ahmed or Calvin Harris and these guys, who can balance it up a bit more.

'Cause y- you know, if you go for-

A- as opposed to a frontline spinner who, I mean-

Um, he's in the squad now.

I was surprised Rehan Ahmed's not even in that, uh, the squad.

I, I think he is someone who could play the all-rounder role.

Uh, but he has to be, like I said, that second spinner.

Your first spinner has to be J- I know it sounds daft, this, but your, your, your go-to defensive bowler's gotta be Joe.

But more in the second innings, I think Rehan Ahmed, and to lower order batters, Rehan Ahmed comes into the, come to the attack.

It's not a Shane Warne, but he- he's someone who can bamboozle the l- lower order.

And in the second innings, if it's turning, he can be an effective bowler.

He was very well bowled by Hutton for 14.

And, um, Rehan Ahmed, who was great to have back, he, uh, he, he came in at three.

He play- he played one or two lovely strokes before hanging one in the air for his 31, which in hindsight didn't matter.

I really was ... did have visions of him going big in the end.

And they certainly got off to a good start.

And, um, and then, and at one point it, the first few overs of the power play, it did look like, uh, Notts, uh, Notts were becoming the favorites.

But, um, at si- I think it's 63 for no wicket on came Rehan Ahmed, and, uh, took a, took a wicket first ball.

[laughs]

Calvin Harrison would probably have been my first pick.

If you don't go Calvin Harrison, then I would've been happy with a Rehan Ahmed.

Um, there's many, many options, and I, I think I said this on Dan Jadzi's podcast today, that you don't actually have to replace Ben Stokes.

Ben Stokes is kind of two players, and to not play Ben Stokes, you have to replace Shoaib Bashir's bowling and Ben Stokes' batting.

So you just need someone that's going to average 25 with the bat and 40 with the ball.

Rehan Ahmed, Calvin Harrison could do both of those jobs pretty simply, but they haven't gone that way.

Um, whether they change it for the third test or even the second test they bring someone in to say that they've kind of messed up a little bit.

However, the second test is at Lord's, so we've seen what an absolute minefield that is against New Zealand.