England consider debut for 18-year-old Ahmed

England are considering handing a debut to 18-year-old leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed in the third Test against Pakistan.

England already have an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series and are looking for a historic clean sweep.

“We’ve been thinking about it,” said captain Ben Stokes. “Having a wrist-spinner is always exciting.”

Leicestershire’s Ahmed, who was part of the England team that reached the Under-19 World Cup final, has only played three first-class matches.

He was first named in the England Lions party for a training camp in the United Arab Emirates, then added to the full squad during a warm-up game in Abu Dhabi at the end of November.

Ahmed has featured as a sub fielder during England’s victories in Rawalpindi and Multan.

England arrived in Karachi on Wednesday, but with most of the squad taking a rest day on Thursday, Stokes will not see conditions at the National Stadium until training on Friday.

“We can’t go into too much detail until we have had a look at the wicket,” said Stokes.

“We picked him in the squad not just because of his talent, but because we thought it would be a good opportunity to play if we thought it was necessary.”

Ahmed could replace all-rounder Will Jacks, or a fast bowler, depending on the conditions. England must also decide whether or not to recall wicketkeeper Ben Foakes, which would mean altering the balance of the team.

If he plays, Ahmed will be aged 18 years and 126 days. Legendary former England captain Close was 18 years and 149 days when he played against New Zealand at Old Trafford more than seven decades ago.

Ahmed would not be the youngest person to play a Test for England – left-arm spinner Holly Colvin was 15 years and 336 days when she played against Australia in 2005.

Though chosen for his bowling, Ahmed considers himself more of a batter – he made a century batting at number five for Leicestershire in his third first-class match.

“He loves cricket,” said Stokes. “I’m struggling to work out what he is, whether he’s a batter or a leg-spinner, which is I guess good, because it shows how much talent he’s got.

“It’s about not getting too carried away with the potential that he has, because he is only young. You’ve still got to nurture talent, even how exciting it is.”

If Ahmed does play, he would be the first non-white man to feature in a Test for England since Stokes took charge nine matches ago.

On Tuesday, former Yorkshire spinner Azeem Rafiq made his second appearance in front of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport committee and said “cricket is in denial” over racism.

“I have always felt cricket is a very inclusive sport,” said Stokes. “Certainly in my time in the England team, you have been selected on your skills as a cricketer first and foremost.

“That still should be the way going forward regardless of your beliefs or what you look like. If you’re good enough to represent this country, you’re going to get picked.

“Rehan could be an unbelievable example to set to younger kids who want to come up. They may have heard about what’s happened in cricket recently, but he can be seen an example of ‘no, we’ve got this 18-year-old, hopefully a potential superstar, why can’t I be that?’.”