Rehan Ahmed calls making England debuts in all three formats ‘dream come true’

independent.co.uk:

Rehan Ahmed reflected on a winter that has been a “dream come true” after becoming England’s youngest men’s cricketer across all three formats.The 18-year-old may have been an unexpected selection for December’s Test tour of Pakistan but he was no passenger as his seven-wicket match haul in Karachi helped England seal a famous 3-0 clean sweep.He has experienced the other side of the coin with the limited-overs teams in Bangladesh, losing in his only ODI appearance and two T20s, but the leg-spinning all-rounder did not look out of place.Ahmed’s only misstep was dropping a relatively simple catch at Dhaka as England crumbled to a 3-0 T20 series whitewash but even that could not take the sheen off what has been a remarkable past few months.“I don’t think even the Test match has sunk in yet,” Ahmed said. “To make my debuts in all three formats in such a short space of time is a dream come true.”Ahmed has been tipped for greatness ever since claiming the wickets of Sir Alastair Cook and Ben Stokes in a Lord’s net after being invited to bowl to the England Test side just before his 12th birthday.Despite his family being cricket-obsessed – with brothers Raheem and Farhan also involved in the county pathway – Ahmed is a product of the T20 generation and was initially indifferent about the red-ball format.But his mindset has flipped, especially after witnessing the Test revolution captain Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum are leading at close quarters.“I used to see it as something that’s a boring game,” he said. “But it’s a long game, it’s the hardest game.

Now I see it as the most fun game.“Test match was the highest level of pressure I’ve ever played in front of. That was a different type of intensity.“One hundred per