England Pacer Saqib Mahmood Ruled Out Of Season With Back Stress Fracture

The England fast bowler Saqib Mahmood has been ruled out for the season due to a lumbar stress fracture.

Mahmood, who made his Test debut in the Caribbean in March, was forced to miss Lancashire’s most recent Championship match due to lower back pain, and scans revealed the scale of the problem.

The ECB has given Mahmood a pace bowling development contract, and his rehabilitation will be handled jointly by England and Lancashire, with no timetable for his return specified.

His loss will further weaken England’s seam-bowling capabilities for the new series against New Zealand, with Chris Woakes and Mark Wood also ruled out, and Ollie Robinson battling fitness – but James Anderson, Mahmood’s Lancashire team-mate, and Stuart Broad are due to return to the Test set-up. Matthew Fisher, who made his debut alongside Mahmood, has been out since mid-April with a back stress fracture, according to the Daily Mail.

‘My best interests at the moment to focus on red-ball cricket’: Saqib Mahmood

On England’s Test tour of the West Indies, Mahmood, 25, took six wickets at 22.83 and was impressed with his velocity and accuracy with the old ball in Barbados and Grenada. He again top-scored in the third Test, with 49 runs, as he and Jack Leach took England from 114 for 9 to 204 for all out.

Saqib Mahmood had been aiming to solidify his Test ambitions this year after turning down an opportunity to play in the IPL as a replacement player.

He remarked, “I spoke to a handful of the folks around me and believed it was in my best interests at the moment to focus on red-ball cricket.” Hopefully, this will underline my desire to play Test cricket and provide me with the best opportunity to do so by playing for Lancashire.”

Saqib Mahmood has only played once for Lancashire in the Championship, taking 4 for 90 against Gloucestershire in the third round, and was left out of the squad to face Warwickshire earlier this month due to a shoulder injury incurred during the winter.

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