Rehan Ahmed etched his name onto the honours board as well as into the history books with a five-star performance that put the cricket world on notice.
A maiden five wicket haul on debut was everything the 18 years and 128 day old deserved as he put together a terrific spell of bowling that broke the game wide open and all but secured a whitewash for England in Pakistan for the first time.
Ahmed’s 5-48 ripped the guts out of Pakistan’s second innings to leave England with a chase of just 167 to secure victory, something they almost managed in a wild evening session of hitting.
And when Zak Crawley was dismissed for a run a ball 41, who should be promoted to three? Who else but the Nighthawk junior, Ahmed.
His first ball was smashed straight back over Abrar Ahmed’s head for four, and there was another exquisite cover drive for four before the fun was ended. Make no mistake, there will be just as much entertainment from this young man with a bat in his hand as a ball.
But it was with the ball where he has delighted so far and the crowning moment came when Agha Salman top-edged his attempted slog sweep and the arc of the ball told everyone in the ground that Harry Brook would take the catch to make yet more history for an impressive young man.
Ahmed dropped to his knees and bowed his head to the ground as in prayer and thanks at becoming the youngest debutant in Test history to take five wickets in an innings. Ahmed eclipsed the record set by Pat Cummins when he was 18 years and 196 days old, and plenty of fans will be hoping it isn’t the first piece of cricketing glory that he snatches away from the current Aussie Test skipper.
With a smile stretching from ear to ear as the pats rained down on his back from every team-mate, and with his dad Naeem shedding a few tears up in the stands above, this was as glorious a sporting moment as any that had been witnessed over the past 24 hours.
The sight of Ahmed, in his very first match, walking out in front of his team and leading them off the ground is the stuff dreams are made of, but it is his skill and ability that made it a reality. Held back by his skipper Ben Stokes until the 42nd over of the day late in the second session, Ahmed made an immediate impact.
Pakistan skipper Babar Azam had been utterly untroubled by anything England had sent down to him until Ahmed outfoxed him with that leg-spinner’s classic, the half-tracker. Somehow one of the greatest batsmen in world cricket chose that moment to pull a ball he could have hit anywhere, straight to Ollie Pope at mid-wicket.
If that is a sign that Ahmed is both skillful AND lucky, then England really do have a world beater in their midst. Neither Ian Botham nor Shane Warne himself would worry too much how the wickets arrived as they all look the same in the scorebook.
He took two more before the break to complete a mirrored look to the day with Pakistan scoring 3-78 before lunch and 3-78 after. Jack Leach had done the damage early while Joe Root and Mark Wood both picked up wickets as Ahmed stole the show. This could be a recurring theme.
