Follow UsEngland have added leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed as a cover for Moeen Ali ahead of the second Ashes Test against Australia, starting June 28. Moeen, who returned to the Test side after a gap of 21 months at Edgbaston, had blistered his right index finger, but managed to pick up the wicket of Travis Head in both the innings.
However, his figures of 3 for 204 made for a pretty poor reading, but has received backing from his coach Brendon McCullum, who has assured that the spinner will play if he is fit.
"I'm pretty confident that we can get on top of Moeen's finger," head coach Brendon McCullum said.
"That will give us an opportunity to select him in the next game and, if he's available, he will be selected. I thought Moeen did a great job."
Rehan, on the other hand, has played just a solitary Test, which came against Pakistan in Karachi in December last year, where he also picked his maiden five-wicket haul that saw his side win by eight wickets.
However, the 18-year-old has had an ordinary season so far having picked up just six wickets at 67.66 in 10 matches for Leicestershire. He has been impressive with the bat though scoring 423 runs at 38.45, which includes four fifties and a highest score of 90. He is expected to link up with his England teammates over the weekend.
Despite their best of efforts, England succumbed to a two-wicket loss in the first Test at Edgbaston.