It was during the 2023 summer that Saqib Mahmood decided to keep a low profile. No interviews. No franchise cricket at the turn of the year, however tempting. No Instagram reels charting progress and courting well-wishes. Mahmood needed to go dark.
A second back stress fracture, a year after his first and in the same spot, had knocked him. But there was a clarity this time around. He knew what he had to do. Stick to the recovery work, no matter how soul-sapping it would be. Bide his time regardless of how much time had been taken from him. Ease himself back into competitive cricket despite the fact a nightmarish two years had begun almost immediately after his first taste of Test cricket in March 2022.
And so here he was at Lord's, floodlights bouncing off his Oval Invincibles green get-up in front of 28,860 punters who had given up their Sunday evening to be here, countless others consuming from afar, turning in a player-of-the-match performance. A reintroduction on a grand stage. A comeback for a player who has been here for years.
A devastating 3 for 17 ripped the heart out of an excellent Southern Brave side as Oval Invincibles went back-to-back. It was really more of a 3 for 1 across seven deliveries contained within 10 - the second time this season Mahmood has been asked for an extended set. If that speaks of a robustness off the back of those injury-plagued years, the quality within it showed why patience has not been exclusive to Mahmood.
"He's probably not going to admit it," Sam Billings said, "but not many people bowl like that." The Invincibles captain was referring to his upright, slingy action, which serves up late movement at high pace. Movement which, here, was exacerbated by a scuff to the ball administered by a Laurie Evans six off Adam Zampa which landed in the stands at midwicket.
Leus du Plooy was the first to be disadvantaged by that. The scale of Mahmood's reverse-swing was evident in the loss of shape in what the left-hander had hoped would be a booming drive through the off side, only to find his hands turned inside-out and his leg stump snapped back.
In walked Kieron Pollard, the state of the game in those famous bucket hands with Brave needing 49 from 28. He started with an inside-edge, before being beaten on the outside, then skewered by a length delivery that shot through at hip height and somehow missed his gloves.
At that point, a timeout was called. But any sense the heat had been taken out of the occasion was put to bed by an inswinger that - after a hopeful review - confirmed a four-ball duck. Mahmood has waited long enough for nights like these. What's another five minutes? Just like that, the competition's most feared finisher was finished.
Billings post-match assessment was spot on: "You've got one of the best players to have ever played the game, and you've had him on toast there." Evans was removed two balls later for good measure, with one that was relatively tame - pushed uppishly to cover, accompanied by an audible groan on the stump mic - but which bore the hallmarks of a batter wary of the spell he had found himself in, and the situation the bowler had concocted.
That Mahmood was even here, never mind influencing matters in such a profound way, is layered. Spencer Johnson's injury and the ECB's decision to rest Gus Atkinson meant he knew on Friday that he'd have a part to play, which also happened to be the third anniversary of his previous appearance in the competition before this season.
Invincibles picked him up in 2021 after his icon deal with Manchester Originals - his "home" club - was downgraded when Covid postponed 2020's first season of the Hundred. At £60,000, he was not cheap and perhaps a more unforgiving organisation may have cut him loose. Contracted to Lancashire and overseen by the ECB with an array of fast bowling and development deals, Mahmood did not need Invincibles as a third parent.
But in south London, they will tell you "consistency builds trust", even for a team that is only really a team for a month a year. And they saw Mahmood's presence on their balance sheet as no hindrance, which was as much to do with the person as the player. "The ability to reverse-swing, the skill level plus the man… it was a pretty easy decision to back him," Billings said, a statement which Mahmood immediately thanked him for.
"The boys have got two [titles], but at least I've got my own," Mahmood added, emotional enough to regard the toil of the last two years as "a bit of a blur" despite the fact those periods must have felt like hell.
"Watching the boys last year lift it, you want to be a part of it. When you work hard, trying to get back on the park, it's for days like this.
"Having watched that last year, and missing out on other things like England tours, World Cups and things like that. Those are the sorts of occasions you want to be a part of. And, yeah, I'm glad I was part of that today."
Unsurprisingly, Mahmood was reticent to speak of what happens next. Cricketers are superstitious types, and you can forgive a fast bowler believing in jinxes off the back of two back injuries. But as the match-hero medallion and winner's medal clanged around his neck, underneath a broad smile and eyes doing their utmost to hold back tears, he allowed himself to wonder out loud about a return to where he once was.
He expects to be playing Championship cricket later this week when Lancashire play Surrey at his adopted home ground, along with eyes on T20 Blast success, but he could not resist speaking of a return to the top. "[I've got] One eye on that England series against Australia, as well."
There's every chance that will come to pass. Not just because those white ball commitments the clash with the end of England's Test series against Sri Lanka but because, on the evidence of Sunday evening, his quality has not dimmed.
At 27 years old, he is young enough to have all corners of the game open to him, yet he has enough experience to know none of them can be taken for granted. Now, having embraced the dark, Mahmood looks ready to shine brighter than ever before.