Ahmed comes in from the cold to spark England win over New Zealand at T20 World Cup

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — England couldn’t guarantee Rehan Ahmed will make another appearance in the Twenty20 World Cup after an inspirational debut on Friday.

Ahmed played a starring role in his first World Cup match as England dented New Zealand hopes of reaching the semifinals after a thrilling comeback win by four wickets in the Super Eights.

Ahmed dismissed Rachin Ravindra and Cole McConchie to help restrict New Zealand to 159-7, then launched England's fightback with a stunning six off the second ball he faced, in the 18th over.

England was out of the match until Ahmed's six over long-on inspired partner Will Jacks, and they blasted an unbeaten 44 runs in 16 balls for England to win with three balls remaining.

Ahmed was 19 not out off seven balls and Jacks 32 not out off 18, and full of praise for his teammate who was batting for just the ninth time in a T20 for England.

“Rehan played a brilliant innings,” Jacks said. "Everyone who came out on that pitch struggled and it took time to get the pace of it, how slow it was, but that six he hit second ball off Glenn Phillips just upped the ante and put them on the back foot.

“I was then able to just play off him there. The game was laid out there for us with the field and the conditions so we tried to utilise that.”

England had used only 12 men in its six World Cup matches, playing the same XI for five straight games until Friday when Ahmed, a spin bowling allrounder, replaced Jamie Overton, a fast bowler. The change was dictated by a used, slow pitch.

The 21-year-old Ahmed has mainly been an understudy to Adil Rashid while making landmark appearances. He was the youngest man to debut for England in tests in 2022, and the same in ODIs and T20s the next year.

Asked whether Ahmed will stay in the XI for the semifinal next week, likely in Mumbai, captain Harry Brook said, "There's conversations to be had. We said from the start of the competition we're going to select on conditions. We thought today was the perfect opportunity to bring him in and he did an amazing job.

“We've seen what Rehan can do in the nets. He played beautifully and took the game away from them.”

Teammate Tom Banton was also impressed.

“I played with him last year at Trent Rockets. I've seen the journey he's come on,” Banton said. “He's not been playing which hasn't been easy but to make an impact like that ...”

AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket

England's Rehan Ahmed bowls a delivery during the T20 World Cup cricket match between England and New Zealand in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Friday, Feb. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

England's Will Jacks, left, and Rehan Ahmed encourage each other as they bat during the T20 World Cup cricket match between England and New Zealand in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Friday, Feb. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

England's Rehan Ahmed hits a six during the T20 World Cup cricket match between England and New Zealand in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Friday, Feb. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

England's Rehan Ahmed plays a shot during the T20 World Cup cricket match between England and New Zealand in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Friday, Feb. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

STOCKHOLM (AP) — A Russian drone carried out an unauthorized flight off southern Sweden earlier this week while a French aircraft carrier was docked in the port of Malmö, the Swedish military said Friday, in what the defense minister said was a violation of his country's airspace.

The armed forces said in a statement that a Swedish naval vessel detected a drone taking off from a Russian signals intelligence ship in the Öresund strait, which separates Sweden from Denmark.

The military said that systems on board the Swedish ship, the HMS Rapp, took countermeasures to disrupt the drone. It said the Russian ship, the Zhigulevsk, had entered Swedish territorial waters and the Rapp approached it to monitor its transit through the strait.

The French nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle is in the southern Swedish city of Malmö this week as part of regular NATO exercise activities. Malmö is located on the Öresund, opposite Denmark’s capital, Copenhagen.

French military spokesperson Guillaume Vernet told The Associated Press that the drone was detected on Wednesday and handled by Swedish forces integrated into a security system around the carrier. He said Friday that the drone was more than 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the Charles de Gaulle.

“This system showed it is robust, and this event had no impact on the activity of the aircraft carrier battle group,” Vernet said.

The Swedish military said it followed the Russian ship out of Swedish waters and it is now in the Baltic Sea.

It said that, after analyzing technical data, it determined that the drone carried out an unauthorized flight. In addition to that, it said, the Zhigulevsk didn't act in accordance with rules that apply to vessels passing through the strait in Swedish waters.

"The incident constitutes a breach of Sweden’s access regulations and a violation of Swedish airspace," Swedish Defense Minister Pål Jonson wrote in a social media post. “It is, of course, serious and irresponsible.”

Jonson had said on Thursday evening that the drone appeared to be Russian. Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said during a visit to the French ship earlier Friday that “it is serious and maybe not surprising,” as Russia dislikes Western exercises and the West dislikes Moscow's actions.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot, who visited the Charles de Gaulle along with Kristersson, emphasized that the security of the aircraft carrier wasn't threatened.

"If indeed ... there is a potential Russian origin for this incident, it would be a ridiculous provocation," he said. He said that he had no information of his own on the source of the drone.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said he didn’t know about the incident. Asked by reporters about Swedish officials linking the drone to the Russian ship, Peskov said that “it’s quite absurd” to claim that the drone was Russian just because a Russian ship was nearby.

Western officials say Russia is masterminding a campaign of sabotage and disruption across Europe. An Associated Press database has documented well over 100 incidents. Not all of them are public and it can sometimes take officials months to establish a link to Moscow.

While officials say the campaign — waged since Russia launched an all-out war against Ukraine in 2022 — aims to deprive Kyiv of support, they believe Moscow is also trying to identify Europe’s weak spots and divert law enforcement resources.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, right, meet before the bilateral meeting on the French aircraft carrier Charles De Gaulle (R91) berthed at the North Port in Malmo, Sweden, Friday, Feb. 27, 2026. (Johan Nilsson/TT News Agency via AP)

FILE - French aircraft carrier The Charles de Gaulle docks at Subic Bay port, a former U.S. Naval base northwest of Manila, Philippines, Sunday, Feb. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Joeal Calupitan, File)