Ahmed comes in from the cold to spark England win over New Zealand at T20 World Cup

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — England couldn’t guarantee Rehan Ahmed will make another appearance in the Twenty20 World Cup after an inspirational debut on Friday.

Ahmed played a starring role in his first World Cup match as England dented New Zealand hopes of reaching the semifinals after a thrilling comeback win by four wickets in the Super Eights.

Ahmed dismissed Rachin Ravindra and Cole McConchie to help restrict New Zealand to 159-7, then launched England's fightback with a stunning six off the second ball he faced, in the 18th over.

England was out of the match until Ahmed's six over long-on inspired partner Will Jacks, and they blasted an unbeaten 44 runs in 16 balls for England to win with three balls remaining.

Ahmed was 19 not out off seven balls and Jacks 32 not out off 18, and full of praise for his teammate who was batting for just the ninth time in a T20 for England.

“Rehan played a brilliant innings,” Jacks said. "Everyone who came out on that pitch struggled and it took time to get the pace of it, how slow it was, but that six he hit second ball off Glenn Phillips just upped the ante and put them on the back foot.

“I was then able to just play off him there. The game was laid out there for us with the field and the conditions so we tried to utilise that.”

England had used only 12 men in its six World Cup matches, playing the same XI for five straight games until Friday when Ahmed, a spin bowling allrounder, replaced Jamie Overton, a fast bowler. The change was dictated by a used, slow pitch.

The 21-year-old Ahmed has mainly been an understudy to Adil Rashid while making landmark appearances. He was the youngest man to debut for England in tests in 2022, and the same in ODIs and T20s the next year.

Asked whether Ahmed will stay in the XI for the semifinal next week, likely in Mumbai, captain Harry Brook said, "There's conversations to be had. We said from the start of the competition we're going to select on conditions. We thought today was the perfect opportunity to bring him in and he did an amazing job.

“We've seen what Rehan can do in the nets. He played beautifully and took the game away from them.”

Teammate Tom Banton was also impressed.

“I played with him last year at Trent Rockets. I've seen the journey he's come on,” Banton said. “He's not been playing which hasn't been easy but to make an impact like that ...”

___

AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket