If it’s possible to head to St Lucia with a tinge of disappointment (and it probably isn’t), then perhaps that is how England fast bowler Saqib Mahmood is feeling.
It’s not that he has anything against the Caribbean island he is now on, and where England play their final three T20s against West Indies. It’s just that he has loved the one he has arrived from.
Barbados is where the Lancashire quick made his Test debut in 2022 – an impressive one at that with four wickets in the game – and also where he starred in the first two T20s last weekend.
While Phil Salt’s 103 in the series opener and the fit-again Jos Buttler’s 83 a day later secured England victories, both of those wins were set up by Mahmood’s powerplay bowling.
On Saturday, he reduced West Indies to 18-3 inside four overs by dismissing Brandon King (caught cover), Evin Lewis (caught in the deep) and Shimron Hetmyer (caught behind).
Then on Sunday, he ensured the hosts plummeted to 35-3 inside four overs as King spooned him to Liam Livingstone at mid-off and Roston Chase was pinned lbw by an in-swinger.
That success is reward for heading to the Caribbean early and working with the Barbados-born Chris Jordan, England’s leading pace-bowling wicket-taker in T20 internationals but one they now seem to have moved on from.
Mahmood’s spells with the new ball have been tone-setting, albeit he was a little wild and wide in game two as he struggled to control the lavish movement a juicy Bridgetown pitch offered up.
However, the 27-year-old should not be pigeonholed as purely a new-ball menace as his fourth and final over in the first T20, the 19th of the innings, only went for four runs – three singles and a wide.
He expertly mixed up his pace, line and length and dismissed the dangerous Gudakesh Motie from a wide slower ball, securing career-best T20 international figures of 4-34.
‘Red ball is definitely still on my agenda’
There was chat before this tour about what the point of it was, in that it is sandwiched between England Test trips to Pakistan and New Zealand and that a number of regulars aren’t here.
But it has given fringe players the chance to impress incoming white-ball coach Brendon McCullum – he adds the white-ball role to his red-ball job in January – and Mahmood has done that.
It’s not just short-form cricket that Mahmood wants to play, though,
I want to be walking off the field every time I play knowing that I’m doing what I want to do with the ball. At times in the past for England, especially before my injuries, sometimes I’d walk off the field and I’d be like ‘I didn’t really want to be doing that’. I think that’s something which I’ve changed. It helps as you get older.
The fast bowler inked a new white-ball-only deal with Lancashire in October after recovering from two serious stress fractures of the back in the previous two years.
He stressed after signing that contract, and again since, that he still harbours ambitions of playing red-ball cricket for club and country. There are “options” within his Lancashire deal to feature in the County Championship.
Speaking earlier this week, Mahmood told the media: “There was a time this year where I said to the guys I didn’t really want to play any red-ball cricket because I was nervous about my body.
“What this contract allows me to do is, if my body isn’t up to playing red ball, then I don’t feel bad for not playing. But red ball is definitely still on my agenda. I still want to play red ball.”
Reece Topley injured his knee in the first T20 in Barbados
Topley fined for chucking chair after injury setback
Mahmood’s fellow England seamer Reece Topley has been fined 15 per cent of his match fee and handed one demerit point for throwing a chair against a staircase handrail after leaving the field injured in the first T20 international versus West Indies.
Topley – whose career has been blighted by injury, including a stress fracture of the back – fell over while bowling before a rain break at Kensington Oval and jarred his right knee.
The left-armer attempted to continue his spell once play resumed but left the field after one further delivery, which was hit for six, and played no further part in the game.
Topley also sat out the second match of the series and would appear unlikely to be risked for the remaining three games, despite bowling in practice in St Lucia on Tuesday.
West Indies bowler Alzarri Joseph was banned for the first two T20s, having stormed off the field in the final one-day international after being angered by captain Shai Hope’s field settings.
Alzarri Joseph is back in the West Indies squad after serving a two-game ban
Joseph is back in the squad for the final three T20s, replacing namesake and fellow quick Shamar, but all-rounder Andre Russell (ankle) has been ruled out, with Shamar Springer, who played two games in Sri Lanka in October, coming into the group.
West Indies squad: Rovman Powell (captain), Roston Chase, Matthew Forde, Shimron Hetmyer, Terrance Hinds, Shai Hope, Akeal Hosein, Alzarri Joseph, Brandon King, Evin Lewis, Gudakesh Motie, Nicholas Pooran, Sherfane Rutherford, Romario Shepherd, Shamar Springer
England squad: Jos Buttler (captain), Rehan Ahmed, Jofra Archer, Jacob Bethell, Sam Curran, Will Jacks, Liam Livingstone, Saqib Mahmood, Dan Mousley, Jamie Overton, Michael Pepper, Adil Rashid, Phil Salt, Reece Topley, John Turner