Rehan Ahmed scored four overs on the opening day against Yorkshire. who preferred the first round of the County Championship to the sun on the Costa del Sol or winning the Indian Premier League, only Ben Fawkes had a decent day and Rehan Ahmed had one shocking over.
Ahmed is only 18 years old, and one could hardly expect him to know better, but his elders must have told him that April in England belongs to the average pace. This is clearly the most brutal month for wrist spinners. Having received one over for Leicestershire, Ahmed lost to almost equally young Yorkshire newcomer Finley Bean by 22, although he returned with three quiet overs before the close.
The fingers of the spinner are not yet warm at this time of the year. There is no sun either, so the field is too slow and there is no wear and tear on the velvety green surface. There is none of what the late Shane Warne called «the spinner's greatest ally» — natural variety.
How the horror unfolded
Ahmed was thrown for the 20th time of the season at the punished Headingley Stadium. It looks like he was given just over a minute, so he was pushed into the gap with minimal warm-up time and a very short one-way boundary. His first ball was a slow full throw that Bean pulled out for four, and because it was so high that the ball missed it too, it counted for six. Ahmed's next ball was another slow full throw, which left-hander Bean made for four, accelerating for 50, which he turned into a first-class hundred after the midday rain break, and 118 of 149 balls.
Finally warming up, Ahmed played to the end, but the damage to his confidence had already been done, with one legitimate ball out this season and 10 runs conceded. His second ball was pushed in vain; his third, overloaded, Bean leads straight for four; his fourth and fifth were placed on the offside for two tries each; and the last one was a short ball that Bean quickly pulled onto the short border.
Finley Bean is stuck in Rehan Ahmed on his way to the centenary . Photo: Danny Lawson/PA Wire
No wonder Yorkshire has chosen only two leg spinner specialists in its history: Eddie Leadbeater in the fifties, when the championship was just starting in May, and Adil Rashid.
In particular, then wrist spinners were not on the verge of extinction, as they are now. The captains were more willing to take risks and have fun than fiddling with seamers and finger spinners. In several Tests in the late forties, England played with two spinning legs, and in the 1949 Oval Test they chose three — two specialists in Eric Hollis and Doug Wright and an all-rounder who also captained in Freddie Brown — to try to defeat the defending New Zeeland in a match limited to three days.
England batsmen have mixed fortunes
Meanwhile, Ollie Pope scored 13 for Surrey against Lancashire and Ben Duckett scored 24 in the opening match for Nottinghamshire and Fawkes scored 76 almost four hours for Surrey. Fawkes rallied the County Champions after they were sent off and lost four early wickets, including House Sibley on his return from Warwickshire. Zach Crawley was prevented from taking the pitch by rain, not Northamptonshire, who, after , as he was sent to the field, which nibbled and gnawed, between showers fell to 89 for seven. Kent tailor Grant Stewart pulled off a stunning ankle catch back after Josh Cobb hit the middle of his straight.
Although this is the first game out of 14, Kent vs. the Northants could be the deciding one as it was touted as collision at the bottom of the table. The county that loses this clash will have every chance of being demoted.
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