Brendon McCullum believes England’s teenage sensation Rehan Ahmed can return home from his startling Test debut against Pakistan and ‘wow’ the cricketing world.

It’s a great story,’ said the England coach before returning home to New Zealand ‘for a bit of golf and a couple of glasses of red’. 

He’s a young kid but has a tremendous attitude, a high ceiling, a bit of x-factor and the potential to wow the world which is pretty cool.

‘To see that at such a young age and to have done what he has done is amazing. It’s been an important thing for the group too. When Rehan got his cap and we saw what it meant there were quite a few emotional people in the dressing room. It means so much.’

The key now is what comes next for a gifted all-round prospect who has long been on England’s radar since emerging from the Leicestershire academy after, in an unusual reversal, moving on from their bigger neighbour in Nottinghamshire.

Paul Nixon, the Leicestershire coach, has been working in Pakistan and said on the talkSPORT Following On podcast that his county’s attempts to provide turning pitches to suit Ahmed and their ‘No1’ spinner Callum Parkinson had been frowned upon by ECB. But that they would continue to give him every first-team opportunity possible.