A former supermarket shelf-stacker, Sajid Mahmood was spotted in the Bolton Leagues and joined Lancashire on a scholarship in 2002. From there, he rose rapidly through the ranks, and despite having only six first-class wickets to his name, he was selected for England A's tour to India and Malaysia in 2003-04. In unhelpful conditions, his wholehearted performances on that trip meant his full England debut was only a matter of time, although he had a chastising experience against New Zealand at Bristol, where his seven overs disappeared for 56 runs. Mahmood, whose cousin Amir Khan is an Olympic boxer, is tall and decidedly rapid, and bowls a fuller length than many of his pace-bowling contemporaries. For a while, he made his name at the expense of his team-mates - in 2003, he put Andrew Flintoff out of action with a beamer in the Old Trafford nets, and later broke Alex Gidman's hand at the ECB Academy. But three years later, he was inflicting the damage on his opponents instead, as he announced his Test arrival against Sri Lanka at Lord's with a fiery three-wicket burst, before overcoming cries of "traitor" from the British Pakistani fans at Headingley, as England sealed the series against his father's former countrymen. England's management weren't convinced, however, and Mahmood was overlooked for the subsequent Ashes opener at Brisbane, only to be recalled late in the series with no form or confidence to fall back on. Excellent in the field, he again showed promise with the ball in the subsequent World Cup but inconsistency continued to hamper his progress and when Peter Moores took over as England coach Mahmood was dumped. Ironically, when Moores took the coaching job at Lancashire in 2009 Mahmood pushed hard for England recall and was rewarded with a call-up to the one-day squad for South Africa. The second coming, though, was no more successful and he drifted off the scene again
Andrew Miller October 2010