Discussing his maiden call-up to England's national team in 2022, spinner Rehan Ahmed said, "We were playing an England Lions game...Ollie Pope and Zak Crawley smacked me around." "I was like, 'It's not the most impressive'. [England Test team head coach] Brendon McCullum came to me at lunch...[and said] 'You've got to come with the first team,'" added Ahmed.