With four wickets, Farhan Ahmed spun Nottinghamshire to a comfortable victory against Sussex at Trent Bridge.
After Brett Hutton (4-53) and Josh Tongue (5-44) bowled out Sussex for 169, Nottinghamshire captain Haseeb Hameed made 85 to put his team into the lead. Sussex were in it when Ollie Robinson (4-94) and Jayden Seales (4-100) reduced the hosts to 210-8, but Liam Patterson-White (42) and Hutton (39 not out) added 71 for the ninth wicket. Nottinghamshire eventually posted a round 300.
Trailing by 136, Sussex clawed back to reach 89-0 in the second innings. The brother of Test cricketer Rehan Ahmed, Farhan had conceded 19 in the first innings for the wicket of Oli Carter. Now he broke through, having Daniel Hughes caught-behind and trapping Tom Clark leg-before in quick succession.
Sussex slumped to 167-6 before captain John Simpson (74) and Jack Carson (43) put on 87, but once the latter fell, Farhan got his third wicket, of Robinson, caught behind. He then rounded off the innings by having Simpson caught to finish with 4-54. Sussex were eventually bowled out for 278.
From nine first-class matches, Farhan – who was only 15 when he was included in the 2023 World Cup squad and only 16 when he signed a professional contract with Nottinghamshire – now has 34 wickets at 26 apiece. Earlier this year, he famously hit 90 and 21 to go with 4-78 and 5-103 for England in an Under-19 “Test match” against South Africa.
Nottinghamshire took only 25.5 overs to chase the target. Hameed (62 not out) got his second fifty of the match, while Ben Duckett smashed 59 not out in 31 balls.
