Saqib Mahmood proves his England team-mates wrong by a lack of faith in his sensational last-wicket position of 90 with Jack Leach: ‘It could have easily fallen apart after the start we had in the first two sessions, but we held on firm”. well”
Saqib Mahmood came to England’s rescue on the opening day of the third and final Test against the West Indies.
Saqib Mahmood proved his team-mates wrong for a lack of faith, as his latest battle with Jack Leach helped rescue England on the opening day of the third Test against the West Indies.
Mahmood’s early test innings saw him share a position of 90 with his bottom mate, leading the tourists to 204 after the top seven capitulated in the clincher in Granada.
As he and Leach turned the third Test around, lifting England back to respectability from the brink of embarrassment, it was clear there were some misgivings in the visiting dressing room.
When Mahmood came out to bat, there was a lot of activity on the England balcony, with a handful of players emerging on their targets in preparation for the seemingly imminent field service.
Instead, they watched Mahmood and Leach bat together for nearly two and a half hours.
“We detected it,” he said. “I told Leachy: ‘the damned cheeky ones have put on their whites’. She cheered us up a bit.
“I took a look later to see if any of them had taken them off, but they left the targets on all the time. It was a lot of fun with Leachy, it was a case of being disciplined and hitting the bad ball. We knew they would get to a stage where the one that would take the sting out of his attack.
“It could have easily fallen apart after the start we had in the first two sessions, but we pulled it off well.”
Mahmood was eventually dismissed in the day’s final for 49, his highest score in professional cricket and 15 more than his previous best score in the first-class game.
Mahmood was in good spirits after his unexpected role with the bat, which included the top six in red ball cricket.
Recalling the sweet strike from Kyle Mayers, who had previously taken two no-run wickets in his first five overs, he said: “At one point I faced 25 or 30 balls without getting a run, then I got knocked down and I thought ‘I’m going to knock this guy down. type’.
“Those words may have been said a few times. If you listen to me in the locker room, I’ll always talk about myself as a hitter, but when you get into this environment and you have guys bowling 90-90 mph, you tend to stop. shut up for a while
“But it would have been nice to get to 50. I had a little bit of tunnel vision and probably took my eyes off the ball.”
West Indies speedy Jayden Seales admitted his side were disappointed to see England walk out of jail after almost throwing the game overboard in the first two sessions.
“It was definitely frustrating. We were looking to get them out for 150 max and I think we let them off the hook,” he said.
“On this wicket, it’s actually a decent score. I think later in the game, it could go up and down with a variable rebound. The game starts.”
West Indies and England will resume the third Test at 2pm UK time on Friday. Follow the text commentary one after another from 1:45pm on skysports.com and the Sky Sports app.
