I really enjoyed the combination of Jack Leach and Rehan Ahmed on the third day in Karachi.
On the one hand, you have an experienced, orthodox left-arm finger-spinner, who can bowl a heap of overs and take wickets. On the other hand, there is the teenage wrist-spinner who is playing only his fourth first-class match.
He will answer the odd bad ball, but he can also surprise the good batsman. To get a five-for on Test debut at the age of 18 is a remarkable achievement.
Jack Leach gets a hug from his captain Ben Stokes after taking the wicket of Abdullah Shafique
18-year-old Rehan Ahmed took a five-for in Pakistan’s second innings on his Test debut
In Leach’s case, he is working hard to get some drops in his bowling. He practiced every morning before the game with England’s spin-bowling coach Jeetan Patel, and you could see it pay off when he hit Agha Salman in Pakistan’s first innings.
One of the reasons he’s lost some time here is because he sometimes has a hard time getting that dip, meaning batters are able to use their feet on him and hit him over the top.
Getting Salman out is key to what he’s trying to do – a bit like what Nathan Lyon is doing for Australia.
Leg-spinners, on the other hand, need side-spin, and we’ve seen here how Jeetan Patel works with Ahmed to lower his arm a little bit, because it’s so high, and that can affect the side- spin.
Ahmed wrote his name on the honors board at the Karachi National Stadium after the game
So it was a big moment for him to catch Mohammad Rizwan at leg-break. He doesn’t need to spin his leg-spinner hard, the way Shane Warne used to do – just enough to take the right-hander’s outside edge.
Think of how Anil Kumble used to bowl in England: he didn’t spin his leg-break much, but because he had a googly – as Ahmed does – he could challenge both sides of the bat. That’s what could make Ahmed dangerous in the years to come.
Ben Stokes handled the two well. Along with Leach, he set attacking fields for what was essentially defensive bowling.
Leach has benefited from attacking fields since Ben Stokes took over as England captain
Leach celebrated after bowling out Azhar Ali as Pakistan were bowled out for 216 on Monday
It’s a ploy that Warne always talks about. Stokes stops the men and asks them to hit Leach over the top.
He has taken countless wickets this year as Stokes continues to attack. Indeed, no one has taken more Test wickets in the world in 2022, reflecting both bowler and captain.
With Ahmed, it’s the other way around: he attacks with the ball, so Stokes is more defensive on the field. He knows that the young leggie will deliver a uniquely hittable delivery, so he gives him cover on both sides of the wicket.
Stokes doesn’t do that to Leach: if he’s hit for four squares of the wicket, the captain just says it’s a bad ball.
Ahmed was ready to go all-out with the ball, so Stokes set his fields accordingly
If anything, perhaps Stokes could have brought Ahmed on earlier on the third day.
I can understand why he went with his seamers when the ball was starting to reverse a bit, but it wasn’t coming back much before lunch and Babar Azam wasn’t always reading the googly – as we’ve seen in the past when he got bowled. against Adil Rashid.
Also, left-hander Saud Shakeel came in, and Ahmed got him out in the first innings.
But that’s a minor criticism, and what English cricket needs to do now is ensure that Ahmed gets as many opportunities as possible to learn his craft.
Assuming England pick just one spinner this summer, as they usually do in Tests at home, then for me Leach is still the man. So if Ahmed doesn’t play much Test cricket next season, the challenge for the English game will be to work out how to deal with him.
Ahmed celebrated with his teammates after taking the fifth of his wickets in Pakistan
You could argue that Leicestershire didn’t get very far last summer by only picking him for a few matches, so what do they have to lose by picking him for more games?
That said, they will always try to pick their best team for the conditions – like England. And if you’re talking about playing an all-seam attack in early-season conditions at Grace Road, and a spinner in Callum Parkinson, then country and county need to work together to make sure he doesn’t end up -twist his thumb.
Whatever happens, the way he performed in Karachi on Monday should excite everyone involved in the English game.
