Sajid Mahmood

Sajid "Saj" Iqbal Mahmood (Urdu: ساجد اقبال محمود, Sājid Iqbāl Maḥmūd; born 21 December 1981 in Bolton, Greater Manchester) is an English cricketer of Pakistani descent. He is a right-arm fast-medium bowler who plays international cricket for England and county cricket for Lancashire.

Youth and early career

Sajid Mahmood's grandfather, Llal Khan, emigrated from Rawalpindi in Pakistan to England with his family in 1968. The family settled in Halliwell, a residential area of Bolton. Sajid Mahmood was born on 21 December 1981, in a Rajput family, the son of Shahid Mahmood, and grew up with his family. He has a sister and a brother and is first cousin to WBA light welterweight world champion Amir Khan.

Mahmood began playing club cricket in the Bolton Leagues, and played well enough to be signed by Lancashire in 2002. He made his debut for Lancashire in 2002 whilst on a scholarship with the club.

Breakthrough

He won the NBC Denis Compton Award in 2003; in the same year, he inadvertently broke the hands of Lancashire team-mate Andrew Flintoff and England A team-mate Alex Gidman, an early indicator of his pace. In September 2003, Mahmood was...
Read More