13-year-old spinner hits headlines at the Lord's Cricket Ground

13-year old Rehan Ahmed from Nottinghamshire bowled in the nets to the likes of skipper Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Alastair Cook and Mark Stoneman, during the net sessions before the third and final Test match at Lord’s against West Indies. It has been reported that Ahmed had earlier troubled many senior batsmen with his skills and got all-rounder Stokes bowled.

He has already been invited twice at the Lord’s cricket ground, to bowl to the visiting team. Rehan is not just good with the ball, the boy recently scored an unbeaten 150 in a county game and has also faced West Indies skipper Jason Holder in the nets.

A precious talent

“He is an exceptional, precocious talent,” Steve Kirby, the head coach of MCC was quoted as saying ESPNcricinfo.  Ahmed started playing the game after he was introduced to cricket by his father Naeem, who brought him to open trials asana 8-year-old. He made his way to the U-10 side, and has also played for U-17 side a few times.

“Mushtaq Ahmed was just walking past the nets last summer and, when he saw Rehan bowl, he stopped in his tracks, He came back to watch and was obviously very impressed.” Naeem says.
“Just bowl and don’t take too much notice of what any coaches say.” was Mushtaq’s advice to the youngsters.

In safe hands

It will be interesting to see if this promising youngster makes it to the national ranks in the coming time. His short stint with the English side will surely boost the confidence of the 13-year old all-rounder, and with the likes of Stokes and Moeen Ali in the England squad, Rehan won’t have to look too far for inspiration.

Head-coach Kirby recognises this fact, “Nottinghamshire are doing a great job with him at present. We all just want to allow him to play and flourish. We don’t want to do anything to crush the wonderful enthusiasm he has at the moment.”