Biography

From the modern crop of cricketers coming from England, Saqib Mahmood is a right-arm fast bowler who plays for Lancashire County Cricket Club. Mahmood came to prominence while playing in the 2016 U-19 World Cup in Bangladesh where he was the third-highest wicket-taker in the competition. Saqib Mahmood was also named as the England Development Programme Cricketer of the year in 2015.

Located in Birmingham, Saqib's heritage is from Pakistan. Due to this, he was denied the chance to join the England Lions squad during their tour of India in January and February 2019, eventually being replaced by Tom Bailey. Earlier in his career, he joined Lancashire in 2015 in the English County Cricket Circuit. The ECB always kept an eye on him from afar as he proved himself on a regular basis. He prepared for 2017 by taking part in the ECB's specialist fast bowling training camp in Potchefstroom. Mahmood was also a surprise inclusion for the England Lions squad which travelled to Australia for The Ashes.

In April 2019, Mahmood became the first Lancashire bowler to take a five-wicket haul in successive List A matches. The biggest moment of his career came in September 2019, when he was named in England's Test and T20I squads for their series against New Zealand. He made his T20I debut in that series, while the following year, he played his first ODI against South Africa. In 2019, he picked up his maiden five-wicket haul in first-class cricket against Yorkshire. Saqib had to wait till 2022 before he made his Test debut against West Indies. He continued to perform consistently in the domestic circuit and also helped Oval Invicnbles to the 2024 Men's Hundred title, winning the man of the match award in the final. After a couple of years of absence, Mahmood returned to the T20I side and made an instant impact. He picked up 9 wickets in four games against West Indies and was named the player of the series as well.