England all-rounder Rehan Ahmed took his career-best 50-over figures for England Lions against South Africa A at Worcester today (June 9).
Playing in the third match of the 50-over series between the two sides, Rehan took six wickets, returning figures of 6-34, as the Lions skittled South Africa A out for 146.
Having lost their two previous matches in the series heavily, South Africa A got off to a decent start at Worcester, only losing Tony de Zorzi before rain caused a brief interruption to play. After the players resumed, Lhuan-dre Pretorius looked in ominous form. He hit 65 off 57 balls, forming a 65-run partnership with Marques Ackerman, taking the side to 93-1 in the 18th over. However, Rehan made the crucial breakthrough, drawing a leading edge from Pretorius which looped up for Rehan to take an easy catch off his own bowling.
Wickets fell quickly after that. James Coles struck in the next over, getting Ackerman caught in the deep off an attempted scoop. Coles also removed Jason Smith in his next over, trapping him lbw from round the wicket. With the exception of Connor Esterhuizen, Rehan took every remaining wicket in South Africa A's innings.
He drew an edge from Sinethemba Qeshile which fell to Ben McKinney at slip, before bowling Gerald Coetzee through the gate. In his seventh over of the innings, he dismissed both Prenelan Subrayen and Nqabayomzi Peter, the forming slapping a shorter ball to point and the latter hit wicket, disturbing the balls with his back leg attempting a pull shot. That wicket gave Rehan his first five-for in 50-over cricket, with his previous best figures being 4-54.
Rehan finished off the innings with the wicket of Dian Forrester, who pulled a ball to the fielder on the boundary. That left England Lions chasing a target of 147 to win their first match of the series.
Rehan five-for comes amid Test call-up possibility
Rehan's six-for comes amid speculation that he could be picked for England's second Test against New Zealand next week. Ben Stokes and Gus Atkinson are likely to miss the game after they were involved in an altercation in a nightclub in the early hours of Monday morning. Rehan was named in the expanded squad for the first Test, but did not make the XI. As an all-rounder, he is the front-running candidate to replace Stokes in the side if the England Test captain doesn't play.
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