With a beautiful action to watch as Saqib Mahmood, it's a bit disconcerting to think of what it reminds you of. Each action is its own living, breathing vehicle, initially created through an internal process of trial and error, while growing up and breathing every bit of a cricket seen; And then, once in a system, a touch-up here, a tweak there by a battery of coaches and there we are: an action, designed to be repeated, but, because every single human body is different, detail. Unable to repeat from, and unlike anyone else who has come before.
But they are effects nonetheless. Because they inhale and exhale through countless children's play, it's impossible not to leave tiny traces behind. With Mahmud, those impressions are unmistakable. When Mahmood was growing up, he would always see two fast bowlers, Brett Lee and Shoaib Akhtar, a pair, who at the time were battling it out in cricket's last great speed race.
It's starting to make sense now, see? The feeling that he's taken the best of the two and completely turned it into his own, if all goes well, you're going to want to inhale little kids one day, like they once did. .
Mahmood's run-up is better behaved than Shoaib's - it was a result of both his body's limitations and his mood. Some days he did what he wanted and some days he did what he had practiced it to do. But it is more in Lee's order and polish, though not as much as Lee's grace of a Panther.
Not unlike Lee in action, before bringing up a wild party of round-arm releases, there's a business load-up of the right wrist—but a fairly honest round-arm, if that makes sense. That round hand is Shoaib-ish, so much, in fact, maybe even more Waqar Younis. After all, Shoaib's hyper-extensions made him raggedy, but at the same time, literally, unique. Maybe Kabir Ali? IYKYK, as they say.
This picture of him below from the 2020 season is another feeling altogether. Sideways, he's not nearly as injured to catch a release as Thomas did—the right hand will be loading behind the right hip—but it's still slim.
All put together, that round arm, sling, speed, and it's easy to imagine those beginner scouts and coaches looking at and ticking some magic box: speed yes, definitely reverse. We have a possibility. And this is what the early dispatches used to say.
Which is why today's series at Cardiff and Lord's is not an eye-opener (with new ball success in List A and county cricket) but a confirmation that Mahmood is ticking more boxes. Quite a few more.
For example, with the pace, Mahmood has had a pettiness in control and the significant movement he has extracted in those first overs of the new ball - effectively helping England win a series which, the day before the start, was a tough one. Looked likely but ended up being shipped easily. Mahmood's new ball spells are just as unique - there is no greater example than Babar Azam's two dismissals inside and outside the bat.
On several occasions when Mahmud chased after beating the batsman, he threw up his arms and turned his back in disbelief, as though the laws of physics were tormenting him. The action may have come from elsewhere, but there's some serious Stuart Broad energy in there. See also: Celebrations before Babur's foot.
It's all a mix of, well, a lot of people should be pretty excited. Shoaib was quite excited to ring Mahmood during the first leg of the PSL this year, where he was the leading wicket-taker and told him that there was more to come, and would give him pointers if their paths crossed. But will be happy to pass. (In Shoaib's recent retellings, of course, Mehmood found him, but that's all beside the point.)
The PSL was a pivotal moment as Peshawar Zalmi gave Mahmood an independent, more detailed brief beyond bowling grunt overs in the middle of a white-ball innings. It became, he told ESPNcricinfo, an opportunity to really learn.
England management will be at the forefront of those who are getting excited about what they have seen. It is not, as Mahmood noted, an easy time battling for places in his white-ball sides. Mark Wood has more speed. Chris Woakes is England's leading wicket-taker since the 2015 World Cup. Jofra Archer has a generational genius. But Mahmood's work in both these matches will now be impossible to ignore.
Last, and not the least, is the fact that he is a British Asian player, which is important at this clearly divisive moment in our lives. He is often asked about his development and makes sense, as a man who has made it through an inconsistent system, identifying structural barriers that collectively prevent him from simulating his progress. , It's not easy.
However, he highlighted the lack of Asian role models in the English game, a hole that Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid are now filling. But you know who else can fill that hole? Fast bowler who has power in every move and action. Here is the beginning of a journey.