Sixteen-year-old Nottinghamshire spinner Farhan Ahmed became the youngest ever player to take a County Championship five-for and the youngest to take a 10-wicket haul in first class cricket in England.
Farhan, brother of England and Leicestershire all-rounder Rehan, comes from a family of locally born cricketers and it was his performance, largely, that abled Notts to get out of trouble with a much-needed draw in a four-day match with league leaders Surrey at Trent Bridge.
The points earned keep Notts ten afloat of Lancashire who are in the relegation zone, with bottom of the table Kent now well adrift on 71 points, it looks like a battle between eighth placed Notts (116) and Lancs in ninth (106) on who survives the drop into Division Two, with just three games of the season to play.
Notts gave Surrey a 525-run head start as the league leaders and 2022 & 2023 champions looked to impose themselves in aim for a hat-trick of titles, Rory Burns scoring 161 in a first innings helped by another Centurion with Indian youngster Sai Sudharsan scoring 105.
Ahmed, however, took 7-140 in 50.4 overs as he proved his class on a flat pitch with the Kookaburra ball which is being used for a handful of rounds this season in a bid to ‘help’ England regain the Ashes when they go to Australia for the winter tour of 25/26.
Notts themselves chased down the high total much in vein, falling short by 120 but importantly, enough to avoid the follow-on, largely thanks to another youngster who got reward with his maiden century, Freddy McCann scoring 154 from 268 balls in an innings which lasted over 6 hours long.
With Surrey having advantage into their second innings, it was an impressive 53 overs of spin by Ahmed and Liam Patterson-White, who helped keep the score down and more importantly, take wickets to give themselves a slim sniff of winning the game.
In a unique situation, LPW and Farhad were the only bowlers of the whole innings, Patterson-White taking 5-95 and Ahmed taking 3-77 as Surrey declared on 177/9 giving Notts a near impossible chase of 297 set for Sunday afternoon, but a stunning response by skipper Haseeb Hameed (61 not out) and Ben Slater (56 not out) ensured the captains would shake hands on a draw ahead of close of play, Notts digging in against the best team in the country to record 121 without loss, and ensure their fight for survival stays within their own hands, for now.
Next up for Notts is a trip to Essex which won’t be easy, that is followed by another road trip to Kent, who at the bottom of the table, have won one game in eleven all season (which was the first of the campaign at Lancashire). By then, Notts will hope to have safety secured, but if not, they’ll end September needing something against Warwickshire at Trent Bridge for survival.
Lancashire meanwhile face Durham (a) who themselves aren’t yet out of the woods, Somerset (h) who still by then could have title aspirations themselves and Worcestershire (a) with potentially everything to play for on the last day. One thing for sure, it will certainly go down to the wire, so the focus is very much on Notts aim to survive.
*Article provided by Daniel Peacock (Editor).
*Main image @TrentBridge Farhan Ahmed, the youngest player to take ten List A wickets in a game in England.
