He made 27 runs in the last match and took a wicket.
Sri Lanka bundled out England in the 1st ODI to win by a narrow margin of 19 runs. Captain Harry Brook made some changes to the line-up for the 2nd ODI in Colombo. One of them is the bowling all-rounder Rehan Ahmed will open the innings.
As for the updates from the match centre, Charith Asalanka won the toss and put Sri Lanka to bat first. Dhananjaya de Silva and the skipper made crucial 40s to push the total to 219. Jamie Overton and Adil Rashid took two wickets each. Joe Root hit the final nail in the coffin, scalping two wickets in two consecutive balls in the last over.
Why Will Rehan Ahmed Open The Innings For England?
In the 1st SL vs ENG ODI, Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett started the flow of runs. However, a knee injury has kept him out of action in the ongoing clash. Will Jacks comes in as a replacement, but he will bat in the middle order. Harry Brook announced at the toss that Rehan would come out to bat with Duckett.
“Crawley is injured. [Will] Jacks comes in and will slot in the middle order. Rehan will open the innings,” the skipper said.
While it’s odd for a bowling all-rounder or a tail-ender to open the innings in an ODI match, it makes sense in this situation. The 21-year-old is a decent hitter of the ball. While he hasn’t had much success with the bat, it’s more to do with a lack of opportunities. In five ODI outings, Ahmed has made 62 runs with a strike rate inching closer to 93. He top-scored in the last contest, making 27 runs. In T20Is, Rehan Ahmed has been experimented with at No.4 and No.6 positions as well.
However, the main reason for England would be to incorporate an extra bowler who can bat. The philosophy of batting deep, preferably till No.8, is being widely used by multiple teams across formats. It’s more prominently the case with India.
Thus, instead of replacing Crawley with Tom Banton, who’s a pure batter, Will Jacks is added to the line-up as he offers a few overs of spin. Jacks has 600+ runs in 20 outings and seven wickets. He is slotted in the lower middle order for final flourishes. In the first innings, he completed his quota of 10 overs with a wicket of Pavan Rathnayake.
Adil Rashid is the only pure bowler in the line-up. Jamie Overton is a pacer who can bat. Liam Dawson offers slow left-arm orthodox with some batting skills. Jacob Bethell and Joe Root shared 5.3 overs of spin among each other. While Sam Curran also bowler four overs of left-arm pace.
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Playing XIs for SL vs ENG 2nd ODI
Sri Lanka: Pathum Nissanka, Kamil Mishara, Kusal Mendis (w), Dhananjaya de Silva, Charith Asalanka (c), Janith Liyanage, Pavan Rathnayake, Dunith Wellalage, Pramod Madushan, Jeffrey Vandersay, and Asitha Fernando.
England: Rehan Ahmed, Ben Duckett, Joe Root, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook (c), Jos Buttler (w), Will Jacks, Sam Curran, Jamie Overton, Liam Dawson, and Adil Rashid.
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