STOKES INSPIRED ME TO COMMIT TO TESTS
New boy Mahmood on spurning IPL and bar-room songs with the Barmy Army
Turns out I’ve got two chants — Stokesy and Rooty have only got one!
AS England look to rebuild under a new Test captain, one player they can count on is Saqib Mahmood. ‘I feel like if you told me now to choose a format to play for England, it would be Test cricket,’ says the Lancashire seamer. ‘Right now, it is top of my priority list.’ It is perhaps a surprising admission from a fast bowler who played 19 white-ball games for England before making his Test bow in Barbados last month, having also featured in Australia’s Big Bash and the Pakistan Super League earlier in the winter.
But Mahmood has already backed up his words with action, in no small part thanks to the man likely to replace Joe Root as captain — Ben Stokes.
‘I turned down an IPL offer to play for Lancashire and to try to push my red-ball credentials,’ reveals the 25-year-old, sitting in the members’ suite in the pavilion at Old Trafford.
‘I got an offer while we were out in the Caribbean and it was a decision I had to make.
‘It was my choice but it came from a conversation I had with Stokesy over breakfast one morning.
‘I got talking to him about why he didn’t go to the IPL and he said he wanted to prioritise red-ball cricket and be a part of the squad.
‘It was that same day that I got a call about the IPL. It was a coincidence in timing, but the timing of that call was great because I had left that morning having had the chat with Stokesy, who would earn millions in the IPL, but really wanted to push this team forward. I have that drive as well to try to be a part of that Test team over the next few months.
‘I felt as though it was in my best interests to focus on red-ball cricket and hopefully that can highlight my ambition to play in the Test arena.’
Mahmood could easily have been put off by the experience of his Test debut in Barbados, when he was forced to bowl 35 overs on a dead pitch and spent 252 overs in the field.
But he impressed with four wickets in that drawn second Test, when he got the old ball to reverse and also looked dangerous with a new nut in the second innings. And, although England were thrashed in the Grenada decider to lose the series, Mahmood took two more dismissals and even hit 49 with the bat from No 11.
‘I have never enjoyed myself that much ever on a cricket field,’ he admits. ‘It was a pretty flat wicket at Barbados, but the whole experience of playing Test cricket, nothing beats it.
‘Over the last couple of years I’ve been asked a lot of times, “Do you think you are ready for Test cricket?”. I think it’s something you can’t really answer until you’ve actually played.
‘But I do feel like that’s the level I belong at. It was just nice to show everyone who hasn’t seen me with a red ball what I can do.
‘The thing that sets me apart is my skills with the old ball but sometimes people forget what I can do with that new ball too. Long-term I want to be a new-ball bowler.
‘I get more nervous before redball games than any others because there is no hiding place. That is the sort of pressure I thrive off.
‘Obviously I haven’t managed to win a Test match yet, but I imagine it would be up there with one of the better feelings in the game.’
Part of the reason Mahmood had such fun in the Caribbean was the vocal support of the Barmy Army, who sang a song in his honour.
‘Saqib Mahmood is bowling, controlling, he’s going to bowl them all out tonight,’ are the lyrics to the tune of The Nolans’ I’m in the Mood for Dancing — and it has gone down a storm in the England dressing room.
‘It was just being played the whole time,’ smiles Mahmood. ‘You’d be walking past bars in the evening and people were singing it. A few of the boys would start humming it as well. Rooty said it was his daughter’s favourite song so he was obviously playing it on the speakers!
‘They’ve got a song for me batting as well. I was sat with Stokesy and Rooty and they were talking about their songs and whether they liked them or not. Turns out I’ve got two and they’ve got one!’ Mahmood is now dreaming of hearing the Barmy Army singing his anthem at a home ground this summer. However, he is taking nothing for granted with a string of bowlers ready to return to the England ranks.
That could yet include the greatest of them all, Jimmy Anderson, who was controversially dropped for the West Indies tour alongside his long-time new-ball partner Stuart Broad — with Mahmood one of those taking their place.
JIMMY sent me a message when I got picked to congratulate me, which was great of him,’ adds Mahmood of his Lancashire team-mate. ‘There is no awkwardness between us. It did cross my mind but, since I’ve been back here, we’ve had a great relationship as we always have had.
‘He is someone I am good mates with. There is competition but I’d like to think we can both play in the same team.
‘He is someone I have looked up to my whole career and I’d always thought that I would make my debut alongside Jimmy, so I was hoping he wouldn’t retire just yet.
‘It would be nice if I can play with him in an England Test shirt this summer. That would be amazing.’