A YEAR ago, Sajid Mahmood was celebrating after helping England to a convincing one-day victory over Australia in Sydney.

On Monday, he flies out to India for a specialist bowling clinic in a bid to return from the international wilderness.

The Lancashire pace bowler took the wickets of Brad Hodge and Matthew Hayden in that 92-run win over the Aussies and went on to help Andrew Flintoff's men lift the CB Series trophy.

Future

A World Cup spot beckoned, as did a long future in the international set-up.

However, since Peter Moores replaced Duncan Fletcher as England coach, the former Astley Bridge player hasn't had a sniff of a recall.

His last Test was on that Ashes tour over 12 months ago, and his last one-day inter- national was the defeat to South Africa in the World Cup in April.

A double hernia operation in June put a halt to what was a promising spell of form for Lancashire last season, and since the end of the campaign Mahmood has been recovering from a stress fracture of his shin.

But it has given the 26-year-old, who is one of the fastest bowlers around, time to work on what he accepts is his main weakness.

"A lot of people talk about my lack of consistency, and that's fair enough. I hold my hands up and admit I am not the most consistent bowler in the world, I can see it myself," said Mahmood, who took 45 wickets in all competitions for Lancs last year.

Work

"I know that is the thing I have to work on, especially if I want to get back into international cricket because quality batsmen will punish you.

"I spoke to Peter Moores just after my hernia op and he gave me a couple of things to work on, one of which was consistency. So, hopefully, if I can show an improvement then I may be able to get back in the England set-up.

"My consistency at the end of last season was a lot better than it had been and I felt like I was capable of taking wickets and putting pressure on batsmen. But my pace was still there as well. I think it showed because I took something like 18 wickets in the last few games.

"I know that my pace is there so I can put that on the back burner and have been working more on my consistency over the winter, doing lots of target practice both with and without batsmen in the nets.

"And I feel like I am showing more consistency. But my main aim is to get back into that England set-up."

The fact Mahmood asked England's fast bowling coach Kevin Shine if he could go on the 10-day trip to India, which is mainly for academy players, shows his determination to get back to the highestlevel.

"I have been on one of these trips before. Bowling in the indoor nets isn't ideal for my shin, said Mahmood.

Strong

"I am not bowling at full pace at the moment, just around 40 or 50 percent, but I am feeling strong. Hopefully I will be able to step it up in India and then be close to full fitness when I go to Dubai on the pre-season tour with Lancashire.

"But I am definitely on target to be fully fit for the start of the season.

"I am doing lots of weights in the gym and I have had no problems in my rehab so I am feeling really good and can't wait to go out to India.

"We aren't playing any games over there, but we will be involved in some long, hard sessions. Usually you do two-hour slots, bowling spells every 20 minutes."

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