Mahmood takes three wickets on return to action for England Lions
Saqib Mahmood made his return to action for England Lions in Sri Lanka, following a long 10-month lay off after suffering a stress fracture in his back.
Mahmood marked his return to action with three for 27 as England Lions secured a convincing four-wicket win in the first 50-over match of the tour against Sri Lanka A.
There was also a Lions debut for Lancashire's left-arm spinner Tom Hartley who received his cap from Mahmood ahead of the toss in Colombo.
Speaking after the win, Mahmood talked about his delight at returning to action and looked ahead to joining up with the full England squad for the ODI series in Bangladesh.
How you feel getting after first game back in an England shirt…
“It’s great sitting here now after playing my first game in 10 months. I’m really happy and with the performance as well.
“Pre-game I was very internal and thinking about myself. To be honest I just didn’t want to look stupid out there. It’s natural to have those sorts of thoughts when you haven’t played for so long, but at the same time there was a part of me that wanted to go out and really impress. I had a chat with Phil Scott yesterday, who I have known since I was a kid and he’s looked after me since I got back into the gym with this rehab. He said ‘don’t think too much about yourself and just get into the battle. That’s when you’re at your best’.
“I just needed that and today when I got out there from he first over something triggered me and I wasn’t thinking about myself, my body or the technical things, it was purely about outcome and performance and they came out nice.”
Competitive instincts took over…
“One of their opening batters got given out lbw and stood there for a little longer than he should have and I just had a word with him. That was literally it, it got me going, and it from there it was about the batters I was bowling at. The competitive instincts take over. For a first game back and not knowing how it would go, I feel really good and chuffed with how it has gone.”
Body feels good…
“Yeah, I imagine I’ll pull up stiff tomorrow because it’s my first game in a long time. Out there I felt good.”
Three wickets a bonus…
“Yeah, and it should have been four as I had one dropped at first slip! I wanted to contribute, I didn’t want it just to be a case of getting through the game. Every game I play I want to contribute as much as I can and put performances in which stands me aside from everyone else. That’s my drive pre-game. I was wary that a lot of it is mental coming back – for example I forgot how I was marking my run-up if I am honest. In training you just use your spikes to mark it out and I forgot about my pre-game stuff. I forgot to mark my run for the batters around the wicket, so I was scratching a little bit as I went round the wicket to one of the left-handers. This is why these games are really important, especially before Bangladesh. If I can get two or three games out here it just means that all the cobwebs and things you can forget about after not playing for a while are exposed. I felt great today and hopefully I can kick on from here.”
Whets appetite ahead of joining full ODI squad in Bangladesh next week..
“Yep, even in training I have really tried to set my standards high. Even though I am coming back from injury my mindset has been that I want batters to come out of the nets saying: ‘That was hard work Saqi’. I’ve tried to set those high standards so that when you get out on the pitch it sort of looks after itself and it doesn’t feel like a big step up. I tried to really put myself under pressure today and deliver things at a high standard. Even today I went at around three or fours, so there are a couple of balls in there where I need to get rid of those. Today went really well.”
All-round team win today with five debutants…
“It was quite refreshing to see those young guys come in and do well. You try to make them comfortable in the dressing room. It is crazy because the last Lions squad I was involved on a few years ago I was one of the young guys and now I feel like one of the old heads. Everyone contributed and hopefully that can give everyone confidence heading into the next game.”