LONDON: England picked teenage leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed in their white-ball squads for the first time on Thursday ahead of next month’s tour of Bangladesh.

The 18-year-old Leicestershire bowler became England’s youngest men’s Test cricketer against Pakistan in Karachi in December and marked his debut in style with a five-wicket haul.

Ahmed had played just three first-class matches before making his Test bow, but has more experience in white-ball cricket, having appeared regularly for his county side.

Saqib Mahmood has been included in the One-day International squad for the first time since suffering a stress fracture of the back in May last year.

But there was no place for Alex Hales, with the big-hitting batsman set to honour his contract to play in the Pakistan Super League after only returning to England duty last year.

Hales was a key figure in England’s T20 World Cup triumph in Australia in November after a positive test for recreational drug use came to light on the eve of the 2019 50-over World Cup led to more than three years of international exile.

England will play three ODIs and three T20s in Bangladesh from March 1 to 14.

The T20 fixtures are their first in the format since Jos Buttler’s men became world champions, adding to their 50-over global title.

Squads:

ODI squad: Jos Buttler (captain/wicket-keeper), Tom Abell, Rehan Ahmed, Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer, Sam Curran, Saqib Mahmood, Dawid Malan, Adil Rashid, Jason Roy, Phil Salt, Reece Topley, James Vince, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood

T20 squad: Buttler, Abell, Ahmed, Ali, Archer, Curran, Ben Duckett, Will Jacks, Chris Jordan, Malan, Rashid, Salt, Topley, Woakes, Wood.

Published in Dawn, February 3rd, 2023