Choosing Liam Dawson over Rehan Ahmed cost England against India, says coach

Times

5 days ago

Alfonso Thomas, Leicestershire's head coach, has taken aim at England's selectors for picking Liam Dawson ahead of the leg-spinning all-rounder Rehan Ahmed in last week's fourth Test against India.
Speaking after Leicestershire's rain-hit draw with Kent at Canterbury, in which they earned 14 points and moved closer to their goal of winning the Division Two title, Thomas said: 'I am amazed they chose Dawson ahead of Rehan for the Old Trafford Test. I believe that if England had him bowling [in the conditions] there they would have come out on top in that game.'
Thomas watched five-times capped Ahmed, 20, England's youngest Test cricketer, hit 119 in Leicestershire's first-innings total of 471 on Tuesday — his fifth hundred of the summer and the fourth County Championship match in a row in which he has scored a century.
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'I don't think we'll be seeing him a lot in the near future. I spoke to Marcus Trescothick [England batting coach] about Rehan earlier in the season because I wanted the England management to have a look at him as a top- order bat, and as a batter who can certainly offer them an option with his bowling,' Thomas added.
'I think they wanted to see how he went over the season, but now I don't think my No 3 batter could have done anything more so far this season than to perform as he has with both bat and ball.'
Ahmed, given 42 overs on a docile surface as Kent replied with 445 for eight, finished with three for 134, but Leicestershire's attack was blunted chiefly by Ben Compton's 8½-hour 221, a career-best score for the 31-year-old opener.
Leicestershire are now 52 points clear of third-placed Derbyshire, who were outplayed by Northamptonshire but held on for a draw thanks to an unbroken sixth-wicket stand of 131 between Luis Reece and Brooke Guest after rain allowed only 38 final-day overs at Wantage Road.
Second-placed Glamorgan, meanwhile, look heavy favourites to go up with Leicestershire, with three matches to go, after completing an impressive 154-run victory over Lancashire at Old Trafford that moved them to within 28 points of the second-tier leaders.
Mason Crane took his wicket haul to nine in the match as Lancashire were bowled out for 318 in their second innings, while at Cheltenham there was a maiden hundred for 21-year-old Joe Phillips, who scored 136 in his eighth first-class match, as Gloucestershire played out a high-scoring draw with Middlesex in a rain-ravaged match.
Trent Bridge (final day of four): Nottinghamshire (13pts) drew with Somerset (12)
After three days devoid of tension, drama at last reached Nottingham 25 minutes post lunch when Calvin Harrison's leg-spin brought two wickets in ten balls and Somerset, batting again 106 behind, were suddenly four down with as many runs still needed to reclaim the lead (Neville Scott writes).
Following eight games on loan with Northants in which his 30 wickets included a career-best seven for 119 back in April and a maiden hundred last match, it was Harrison's first Notts appearance for eleven months. At 6'4' he generated the bounce and turn out of the rough into the left-handers Tom Lammonby, bowled through the gate for 38 and James Rew, taken at short leg for 27.
As a psychology graduate, here was the man to exploit pressure, maybe, but as the spinners whipped through 25 overs in 78 minutes, an unfazed Tom Abell bedded in. It was half an hour into the final session, with the lead now 84 and 22 overs at most remaining, before he edged Harrison behind and immediately walked for 51.
His partner, Tom Banton, had by then survived extremely hard chances off the same bowler on 16 and 32 before reaching an unbeaten 43 when Nottinghamshire conceded the chance had gone and shook hands on the draw. Had this surface yielded any help even half a day earlier we might have had a classic.
Nottinghamshire, six down overnight, added 33 in 50 balls first thing before finishing 544 all out and knocking over both Somerset's makeshift openers, effectively two No8s in search of surprise glory, in nine new-ball overs. Somerset departed knowing the side may yet face sanction for an altogether different pitch in their last game at Taunton, one which a spokesperson for the Cricket Regulator said 'was rated below average and remains referred for further investigation'.
For their part, the wait for all Championship devotees is now of 37 days as white-ball cricket sweeps all aside until three final four-day rounds astride the autumn equinox. Both Surrey, the leaders, and Notts, nine points behind in second, still have Warwickshire to play at home, the former also meeting Hampshire away after the Notts have played in Worcester.More to the point, the middle of those September round pits these two top teams, champions and pretenders, against on another at the Oval. It is a contest that may well decide the title. September 15-18: put it in the diary.