Saqib Mahmood eyeing Pakistan Tests but unwilling to rush return from back stress fracture

The England and Lancashire seamer says a misdiagnosis of a back injury almost ended his career this summer. Now well on the road to recovery, he is ready to make up for lost time

England's Saqib Mahmood is not ruling out being fit in time for the Pakistan Test series as he approaches the final stages of his recovery from a back stress fracture.

The 25-year-old has not played since his one and only appearance of the summer in April for Lancashire against Gloucestershire in the LV= Insurance County Championship.

Mahmood bowled 45 overs in that match and went for a scan after reporting pain in his back and shoulder, which came back clear and only required an injection.

It was only after a second consultation that a Lancashire radiologist spotted the problem.

"He saw the fracture straight away," he told The Daily Telegraph. "I was distraught. After that, there was a lot of anger. People were making decisions about my back and as a bowler, it is one of the biggest parts of your body for what you do.

^{Mahmood's summer lasted just a single game for Lancashire (Jan Kruger/Getty Images)}

"If I'd had the injection and bowled through it, it could have resulted in the end of my career. There was a lot of anger and sometimes people tell you it is a human error but it just does not cut it for you because there is so much riding on it."

He added: "Injuries are part of the game. I've had them previously but the longest I've ever been injured is six weeks or something, never six months. After my Test debut, it was like going from the highest of highs to lowest of lows in the space of six weeks."

Having played in the second and third West Indies Tests and spoken to new captain Ben Stokes, Mahmood was braced to have a central role during the summer. Ultimately, England would win six out of seven in the longest format without him.

Now approaching a full recovery, attention turns to the winter. England return to Pakistan for three Tests in December and are in New Zealand in February. He has a contract to play in the ILT20 in the United Arab Emirates. But the Ashes being in the early months of the summer means he can't afford any setbacks.

^{Mahmood turned his hand to punditry with BBC Sport (Gareth Copley/Getty Images)}

"I'm trying not to rush," he added. "I could be ready for Pakistan. I have one eye on it. 

"But I have to be selected and coming off the back of not playing since May means other guys are ahead of me.

"I would like to think I will be 100 per cent match fit before that series but it is whether the medical staff think I’m ready for the workload of Test cricket."

"There have been things I wanted to work on for a while, more technical stuff at the moment which should make my action more efficient. I would like to think I will bowl faster as a result of it."

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