His three victims – Avishka Fernando, Nuwanidu Fernando and Chamika Karunaratne – have all performed worldwide cricket, and he struck twice early as Sri Lanka A stumbled to 9 for 3 after 4 overs.

“I’m really happy,” Mahmood mentioned. “Pre-game I was very internal and thinking about myself. To be honest, I just didn’t want to look stupid out there. It’s natural to have those sorts of thoughts when you haven’t played for so long, but at the same time, there was a part of me that wanted to go out and really impress.

“I simply wanted that and in the present day once I acquired on the market from the primary over one thing triggered me and I wasn’t fascinated with myself, my physique or the technical issues. It was purely about final result and efficiency and so they got here out good.

“One of their opening batters got given out lbw and stood there for a little longer than he should have and I just had a word with him. That was literally it. It got me going, and from there it was about the batters I was bowling at. The competitive instincts take over. For a first game back and not knowing how it would go, I feel really good and chuffed with how it has gone.