Ahmed Becomes 500th Capped Fox: A Look at the Numbers
Thu 19 May 2022
Following his selection against Worcestershire, Rehan Ahmed has become the landmark 500th player to represent Leicestershire CCC in the County Championship.
Four Running Foxes have already received their caps this season, with Ahmed joining Beuran Hendricks, Nick Welch, Wiaan Mulder and Scott Steel in making his red-ball debut during the 2022 campaign.
The 17-year-old follows in the footsteps of some of the Club’s most esteemed players, starting with Charles de Trafford, who became the first capped player in 1895, before going on to make 231 appearances in Leicestershire colours.
Ahmed (17 years, 279 days) will become the youngest Running Fox to don the Club’s whites since Josh Cobb (17 years, 18 days) in September 2007, and the eighth youngest player in Leicestershire’s rich County Championship history.
The precocious leg-spinner has had a meteoric rise to the Running Foxes’ first team, making his debut as a 16-year-old against Yorkshire in last season’s Royal London One-Day Cup, taking five wickets and averaging 44.5 with the bat in an impressive seven-game campaign.
He subsequently signed a new contract at Grace Road until 2026 last month, while his services were touted by Southern Brave, who snapped the Academy graduate up for this summer’s Hundred competition.
A Rich History:
In 1906, the Club’s future all-time leading
wicket-taker, William Ewart Astill, became the 65th man to be capped
by the County. He ended a glittering 34-year career in 1939 with 2,130 wickets to
his name.
He shared the field with George Leslie "Les" Berry, who became the 125th player to represent the Club in the County Championship during the 1924 season. Berry’s fruitful career sees him stand as Leicestershire’s all-time highest run-scorer, with 30,143 runs at an average of 30.32 during 28 years of service.
The County’s illustrious heritage also encompasses the likes of the late Ray Illingworth (cap #262) and David Gower (cap #277), both of whom went to enjoy prosperous domestic and international careers while representing Leicestershire.
Other notable players include Head Coach Paul Nixon (#314), Director of Cricket Claude Henderson (#378) and newly appointed captain Callum Parkinson (#466), while the following achieved milestones as the 100th, 200th, 300th, 400th and 500th capped representatives respectively.
100: George Shingler
200: Ken Smith
300: Mark Blackett
400: Garnet Kruger
500: Rehan Ahmed
Like Illingworth and Gower, Ahmed already has experience representing England. Featuring at Under-19 level, the teenager has appeared on 13 occasions since debuting last September, including a starring role at the ICC Under-19 World Cup earlier this year, taking 12 wickets in four innings en route to the final.
You can follow Ahmed’s progress throughout the four days via our match centre HERE.
