Saqib Mahmood took six wickets in two Tests during England's tour of the Caribbean in early spring 2022 but has been injured virtually ever since. Photo: Gareth Copley/Getty Images
Approaching the end of two years of stress fracture hell, Saqib Mahmood doesn't mind his status as England's forgotten man.
“God,” he says when told we are We're talking about his two years of testing in the Caribbean. «Two years. My brother saved it on his phone, so I knew, but time flew by so quickly.»
When Mahmood suffered his first stress fracture in his back at the age of 25 in the early summer of 2022, he was the only player to feature in England's last Tests, ODIs and T20s. A quirk of the Covid-affected schedule, but also an indication of its central role in the new regime's plans. A conversation with Ben Stokes confirmed that he is in a strong position to retain his place for the new captain's first game at Lord's that summer, even with the return of James Anderson and Stuart Broad.
First Test wicket for Saqib Mahmood!! 😍
Perfect start to the afternoon session in England 👌#WIvENG pic.twitter.com/Vfx1vYImAT
— Cricket on TNT Sports (@cricketontnt) March 19, 2022
Since then, little has gone well for Mahmoud. He briefly regained his form in 2023, managing to take the field in just 10 matches across all formats. Two of them were red-ball matches in the Championship last summer, both against Somerset, and both ended up in ball heaven or what Mahmood calls a «flat bitch.»
“I can't remember last time I played on a green wicket that was slippery,” he laughs. In the second of these games, at Old Trafford, Anderson suffered the groin injury that plagued his Ashes summer.
“Suddenly my workload went through the roof,” says Mahmoud. I hadn't bowled for more than two days in a row, and suddenly I was bowling every day. I think that's what happened to me and we'll get through it this time.”
The scan initially showed a stress reaction before a fracture appeared in exactly the same place as the year before. Having had a fairly clean injury record for a fast bowler between 2018 and 2022, Mahmud was suddenly unable to catch a break.
“The first blow hit me a lot harder because I was in the position of playing for England in all three formats,” he told Telegraph Sport. “I did all this work, but this position is taken away as soon as you start to have influence.
“This time… it was never good, but I handled it better. I wanted to speak out more about rehabilitation, I wanted to do things differently. You learn from how other people do it. I spoke to Matt Fisher, Chris Jordan, even Jofra [Archer], who had just come back from stress. I saw a couple of specialists. You gain clarity and understanding of what is happening in your body.
“This is the first interview I've given since last summer. I told Lanx and my agent that I wanted to keep a low profile, keep my head down. There were a few chances to play franchise cricket in the new year but we decided to give it up. I had a conversation with Rob Key and he asked, «Would you regret it more if you played in these tournaments [and failed] or if you didn't?» I was thinking about being part of the T20 World. Cup.
“This conversation changed my thinking. This is such a long-term injury, I’m trying to prepare for one tournament, I didn’t want to spoil it all. I tried to do everything without risking returning too early. I kept my head down, tense, and diligently did everything I could control.
When fit, Mahmoud is an all-round fast bowler with reach and blistering pace. Photo: Gareth Copley/Getty Images
“I want to celebrate as much as I can. If I do this and it happens again, it's like, «Damn!» What can you do?». This way there will be no regrets.”
Mahmud initially wanted to take a year off from playing red-ball cricket. “I didn’t say I didn’t want to play red-ball cricket or give up my Test ambitions. But in the short term I just wanted to play any kind of cricket,” he explains. “The player also has an element of guilt. In last year's T20 Blast I contributed and then suddenly I dropped out again, the level of the team dropped a bit and I felt guilty that I wasn't there.»
Mahmud now really hopes to play red-ball cricket this summer and he is likely to return for Lancashire in the Championship in May. There is still no final schedule, but he has learned from last summer's experience. On a recent trip to Dubai, where he worked with former Warwickshire coach Dougie Brown, he played with 100 per cent intensity and ramped up his workload in preparation for the match.
“I can be my own enemy sometimes,” he said. he says. “In April, if the sun ever comes up in Manchester, I'm training and bowling well, I know I'll want to play. This is my nature. But we will need to manage the risk.
“Even last year I blame myself. I really wanted to play the Ashes, so I did something too early.
“If the Ashes hadn't been there, I would have done things differently and maybe it would have worked better.
p>“I watched the matches when it was possible to play. This time I'm trying to clear my mind of all this, just do it right so I can be truly prepared.»
In the two years of his absence, other bowlers have come ahead of Mahmud. Matt Potts, Josh Tong, Braydon Carse and Gus Atkinson were given central contracts ahead of him, but he has maintained the pace of his bowling development contract and has the all-format and all-conditions skills that Key needs as England build a battery of fast bowlers with an eye on the Ashes.< /p>
“I would really like to play under Stokes,” he says. “I played under him one day and I felt like we really hit it off. We had four ODI entries at Lord's! Having an attacking mindset helped me a lot.
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“New guys are coming , that's the problem. My chance came in the Caribbean because Mark Wood was injured.
“As for feeling left behind… Recently I thought I was much further down the pecking order, but I've always backed myself to get through.“In my first year in Lancashire I had a lot of seamers in front of me. During my first assessment I sat with [then director of cricket] Ashley Giles and he asked if I was worried about it. I said «No. I said if I perform at the level I can, I won't worry about the other bowlers because I know what I can achieve. My mindset is the same now. If I can get myself in shape, do the best I can, I truly believe that everything else will take care of itself. From a young age, I have tried to acquire so many skills that I tick all the boxes, so no matter what wicket we face or what conditions we face, I can be that guy who can tick all the boxes. I want to be the best guy in every situation.”
Mahmood admits that in his two years away, his thoughts regularly return to Barbados and Grenada, where he took his first six Test wickets at an average of 22.8. — a reminder of his qualities.
“I think about the Caribbean a lot,” he says. “But I will say this: I'm so glad I got injured after playing Test cricket and not before. I can be confident that I can mix at this level. You have so many people asking if you are ready for Test cricket, but you can never answer that question because you literally don't know what you're getting yourself into. But having experienced it now and experienced it in fairly friendly conditions, I know that I can hold my own.»
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