On a tour of Pakistan that has thrown up an abundance of magical moments for England’s rejuvenated Test team, it may well be that the sight of Rehan Ahmed dropping to the dusty soil of Karachi to offer a prayer of thanks topped the lot.
Aged 18 years and 128 days, Ahmed had just broken the record held by Australia’s Pat Cummins as the youngest men’s Test cricketer to claim a five-wicket haul on debut. Better still, 48 hours on from hailing the best day of his life, he had set his team on course for what would be a first series clean sweep in Pakistan.
Ahmed’s magical figures of five for 48 from 14.5 overs – secured aged 68 days younger than Cummins’s stunning arrival in Johannesburg 11 years ago – led to Pakistan being rolled for 216 all out, setting England a target of 167 in seven sessions. The tourists wanted it done in one, raiding a frankly bewildering 112 for two from 17 overs in the gloaming, leaving only 55 more to whittle off on day four.
Amid this bid for glory before sunset Ahmed even emerged as the first official “nighthawk” of the new era at No 3 – apologies, Stuart Broad – and carted his first ball off Abrar Ahmed down the ground for four. A second, wristier boundary followed before he was bowled for 10. No matter. Through Zak Crawley’s run-a-ball 41 and Ben Duckett’s unbeaten 38-ball 50, history was within touching distance.
As Ahmed scribbled his numbers in gold pen on the honours board after stumps, scarcely able to compute them as he did so, it was another example of the Midas touch that has prevailed since Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum became captain and head coach respectively. A talent such as Ahmed, performing the hardest job in cricket, could scarcely have wished for two better leaders under whom to start.
Despite two wickets on day one Stokes held Ahmed back until well into the afternoon. A three-wicket burst from Jack Leach first thing had made way for nearly three hours of steadfast resistance from Saud Shakeel and Babar Azam and at 164 for three – a lead of 114 runs – Pakistan were looking ominous.
Stokes tried to barge through the door with an eight-over spell of heft in the heat and grew agitated with it, his shy at the stumps allowing Babar to bring up a typically glossy half-century via overthrows. But in the space of 17 deliveries Ahmed picked the lock instead, prising out both set men, plus Mohammad Rizwan, to make it 177 for six and expose Pakistan’s rather brittle lower order.
Babar’s demise during Ahmed’s second over was galling for a captain surely hearing the whispers about his future, rocking back and slapping a long-hop to Ollie Pope at midwicket on 54. But there was little doubt about the quality of the follow-up, Ahmed finding the edge of Rizwan’s defensive push on seven with a dipping, downright purring leg-break that Ben Foakes neatly pouched.
The googly is Ahmed’s most potent weapon through its greater bounce and once the latest of these had removed Shakeel for 53 via a top-edged sweep, the hosts had that sinking feeling once more. Joe Root soon had the largely anonymous Faheem Ashraf caught at slip after tea off a loose drive, while Mark Wood simply beat Nauman Ali for pace to end a gutsier 15 lbw.
All that was left was for Ahmed to shut down the innings, Mohammad Wasim Jr undone slogging another wrong’un and Agha Salman sweeping to short fine leg. With his Pakistan-born father, Naeem, welling up in the stands, Ahmed’s immediate sajdah in celebration was truly special.
Not for the first time Leach had seen the headlines pilfered by the young debutant and yet his contribution – figures of three for 72 from 26 overs – was hugely significant. Leach had set things in motion in the morning, claiming the first of three victims in six balls when Shan Masood attempted a reverse sweep on 24 and under-edged on to leg stump.
Out strode Azhar Ali for his final Test innings before retirement. The 37-year-old is a player whose service to Pakistan has been immense, not just through 7,000-plus Test runs and 19 centuries but as one of the central pillars of the team that spent 10 years in exile yet rose to No 1 in the rankings in 2016. What followed, however, with his wife and children watching on in the sparse stands, was heartbreaking.
1) Rehan Ahmed (Eng) 18 years, 126 days (at start of Test)
48-5 v Pakistan, Karachi, Dec 2022
2) Pat Cummins (Aus) 18 years, 193 days
79-6 v South Africa, Johannesburg, Nov 2011
3) Shahid Afridi (Pak) 18 years, 235 days
52-5 v Australia, Karachi, Oct 1998
4) Nayeem Hasan (Ban) 18 years, 283 days
61-5 v West Indies, Chattogram, Nov 2018
5) Shahid Nazir (Pak) 18 years, 318 days
53-5 v Zimbabwe, Sheikhupura, Oct 1996
Attempting to dance down to Leach’s fourth ball, Azhar instead yorked himself as a dipping delivery broke back on to the stumps. As England offered handshakes, and teammates formed a guard of honour at the boundary’s edge, Azhar wiped a tear from his eye. Bowled for a duck was no way to sign off, even if consolation could perhaps be found through Don Bradman’s famous exit stage left.
In the next over Leach struck again, Abdullah Shafique out lbw in identical fashion to the first innings to leave the hosts 54 for three – a lead of just four. But though Shakeel survived the hat-trick ball amid a cage of vultures, and formed one half of a battling 110-run fightback alongside Babar, there was simply no escaping the sense of destiny that appears to be following Ahmed and this England team.
