He made his
One Day International debut for England against
New Zealand at
Bristol in July 2004, but his seven overs proved expensive, conceding 56 runs without a wicket. More recently, he toured India with England in early 2006, playing in the third, sixth and seventh ODIs and taking several wickets. He was included in the
Test squad against
Sri Lanka in 2006 following injuries to
Steve Harmison,
James Anderson and
Simon Jones, and earned his first cap on 11 May 2006 in the first Test at
Lord's, becoming England's 633rd Test player. England reached an imposing first-innings score of 551, and Mahmood took three wickets in his first four overs in Test cricket at the end of the second day, as the Sri Lankan team disintegrated to 91 for 6 at the close. He was unable to add to his tally before Sri Lanka were forced to follow on early on the third day, but added two further wickets in Sri Lanka's more composed second innings on the fourth day. Mahmood was replaced by
Jon Lewis for the third Test against Sri Lanka. However, on 27 July 2006 he was selected ahead of Lewis for the second Test against
Pakistan at
Old Trafford after
Liam Plunkett was ruled out due to injury. Although the pitch at Old Trafford favoured seamers, Mahmood performed relatively poorly. However, he was retained for the Third Test at Headingley. He contributed 34 runs with the bat in England's first innings, but then went for 108 runs over 24 overs, albeit with two wickets, in a high-scoring Pakistan first innings. In the second innings, he took 4 wickets for only 22 runs in 8 overs, contributing significantly to England's series-clinching victory. He featured in the final match of the series, dubbed
Ovalgate. He took 2–101 in Pakistan's first innings before the game was forfeited by Pakistan for refusing to take the field during England's second innings.
The Ashes 2006–07 Mahmood was selected for England's
2006–07 Ashes squad, but James Anderson was selected ahead of him for the first and second tests. For the third Test in
Perth Mahmood and
Monty Panesar replaced Anderson and
Ashley Giles. He featured sporadically in the test, bowling just 7 overs in
Australia's first innings and 10 in their second, taking no wickets. He later expressed his unhappiness about not bowling more during the test. Mahmood also played in the
ODI match against Australia on 2 February 2007 in Sydney, taking 2
wickets for 38 runs, and sharing the new ball with fellow
fast bowler Liam Plunkett. He took the wicket of
Brad Hodge by bowling him. He also took the wicket of destructive batsman
Matthew Hayden after Hayden had scored 51. Hayden hit the ball straight to
Jamie Dalrymple. He has appeared in a Bollywood film called
Victory.
2007 World Cup After his successful performances in the
Commonwealth Bank Series victory over Australia, Mahmood was shortlisted for the 15-man England squad for the
World Cup. Although he wasn't selected for the first few matches, he came into the side against
Canada. Against
Sri Lanka in the
Super Eight stage he produced his best figures in an ODI match, taking the wickets of
Sanath Jayasuriya and
Kumar Sangakkara in his spell of 4–50. After his successful bowling figures against Sri Lanka, he was picked for the match against Australia. Despite being England's most expensive bowler in that match, he was picked for the following match against Bangladesh, in which he took 3 wickets for 27 runs. England won and Mahmood was awarded
Man of the Match. Although Mahmood emphasised the work he put into improving his consistency in his two years out of the international squad, he was expensive on his come back and conceded 92 runs and took 2 wickets from the 7 overs he bowled in England's two Twenty20 Internationals against South Africa, and played in just one of the ODIs, in which he took 1/41. ==Post-playing career==