Playing cricket for your country is one of the biggest honour for any professional cricketer. And in the 2nd Test of West Indies vs England, it was the visitors who decided to throw a Test debut to their pacer Saqib Mahmood. Already having played 7 ODIs and 12 T20Is for England prior to his first Test appearance, he’s someone who has been gaining a lot of attention for his wicket-taking ability in recent months.
Today on Day 2 of the match, Mahmood was bowling his 14th over in the 1st innings against two very well set batsmen in Kraigg Brathwaite and Jermaine Blackwood. With a 100+ run partnership already between the two, it was going to take something special to dismiss them, and Mahmood produced that, to claim what would’ve been his maiden test wicket.
Saqib Mahmood gets maiden Test wicket on no ball
Mahmood was getting the ball to swing both ways and he bowled one of his signature deliveries to dismiss a very well set Blackwood, who was batting in his sixties at the time. Mahmood bowled an in-swinging yorker which left Blackwood allowing the ball through his defenses and getting cleaned up.
Mahmood began his celebratory run and his teammates were all around him to celebrate what is a very special moment in any cricketer’s career – their first Test wicket. However, the celebrations were short-lived as the umpire loudly called out a ‘No-Ball’ as Mahmood had apparently crossed the line while delivering this ball.
All that effort and skill went to waste as Mahmood was denied his maiden Test wicket. We saw Ben Stokes rush over to Mahmood as the latter walked back to his mark, because Stokes would know the feeling. He himself missed out on his first Test wicket in the same way, getting a wicket of a no ball and thus being denied the special moment.
We have no doubts at all that Mahmood will have many such celebrations in whites over the years but this is a moment that he won’t forget soon. Earlier, the on-field umpires called the no balls, which means an instant decision. Now with the decision in the hands of the third umpire, it tends to be delayed which thus causes a dampener in such celebrations by the bowler and the entire fielding unit.
Ben Stokes, Tom Curran, Mark Wood, Mason Crane, and now Saqib Mahmood are the five unfortunate English Test cricketers who were asked to stop celebrating what could’ve been their maiden Test wickets, because of illegal deliveries. Take a look at that moment for each of these cricketers in the past:
Mason Crane denied his maiden Test wicket by a no ball. ✅
Mark Wood denied his maiden Test wicket by a no ball. ✅
Ben Stokes denied his maiden Test wicket by a no ball. ✅
Tom Curran denied his maiden Test wicket by a no ball. ✅#Ashes
— Seam Up Cricket (@SeamUp) January 6, 2018
We’re going to try and get some video footage of the no ball that denied Mahmood his first Test wicket, and we’ll update tat here when we can. Until then, for all cricket and other sporting news from across the world, make sure you keep reading ReadScoops.com…
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