Get him on the plane to Australia!

Less than a week after taking 13 wickets and scoring a century in the same County Championship game, England’s leg-spinning all-rounder Rehan Ahmed continued to push his Ashes claims with his FIFTH red-ball hundred of the season and fourth in five innings.

The 20-year-old hit 119 batting at No 3 for Leicestershire against Kent at Canterbury, striking 17 fours and three sixes before he became one of Matt Parkinson’s seven victims.

Rehan has amassed 760 runs at an average of 50.66 for the Foxes in 2025, with this recent purple patch also featuring scores of 136 against Lancashire, 106 versus Glamorgan and 115 against Derbyshire.

Ahmed for the Ashes?

With the ball, he has taken 20 wickets at an average of 15.15 this term – 13 of those scalps coming in one hit against Derbyshire last week as he recorded figures of 6-51 and 7-93.

Liam Dawson is currently England’s Test spinner, having stepped in for the injured Shoaib Bashir (finger) for the end of the India series, with those two likely to be the frontline slow bowlers taken to Australia for The Ashes this winter.

But Rehan’s form with bat and ball cannot have gone unnoticed by the England selectors, and the way he is going, he might even be an outside bet for a place as specialist batting cover.

Jacob Bethell is currently filling that role in the England squad and will surely head to Australia, while Jordan Cox and James Rew – the latter hit a hundred for Somerset against Nottinghamshire in the Championship on Tuesday – are probably vying to go as back-up wicketkeeper to Jamie Smith.

Kent deducted eight points after another show of dissent

The other big news from Canterbury was that the hosts have been deducted eight points following Daniel Bell-Drummond’s show of dissent in last week’s defeat to Glamorgan in Cardiff.

It is the fourth time this season a Kent player has shown dissent – after Matthew Parkinson against Glamorgan, Kashif Ali versus Gloucestershire and Tawanda Muyeye against Derbyshire – meaning they have been hit with a penalty.

They are now 26 points adrift of second-bottom Northamptonshire and facing a real battle to avoid the wooden spoon with just four games – including the ongoing one against Leicestershire – left.

Kent have further matches at home to Lancashire and Derbyshire, and at Leicestershire.