BOLTON-born Sajid Mahmood won his battle with a section of the Headingley crowd to play a key role in England's emphatic third npower Test victory over Pakistan.

The Lancashire seamer became a target for a particular corner of the ground, who labelled him a traitor because his parents were both born in Pakistan before emigrating to England in the 1970s.

But Mahmood, the cousin of boxer Amir Khan, gave the ideal response to the Headingley barrackers by claiming Test-best figures of 4-22 to help England dismiss Pakistan for 155 chasing a victory target of 323 on the final day.

Having replaced Steve Harmison from the Kirkstall Lane End of the ground, Mahmood was booed when he came on to bowl and said: "It started off pretty light-hearted and then it did get a little bit personal.

"I put that to one side and concentrated on my bowling and I think I bowled pretty well. I heard them call me a traitor during my second spell, but I didn't let it affect me.

"I didn't really take much of the banter in. I tried to ignore it and bowl in good areas and try to concentrate on getting the ball fuller."

Mahmood ignored the abuse to begin with, but after claiming his first wicket the 24-year-old cupped his hand behind his ear in a response to that corner of the ground.

"They gave me a lot of chat down there on the boundary and then I got that wicket and did that to see what they had to say then," he said.

"Every time I went down to that corner there was a couple clapping, there were a few hurling abuse so I didn't know what to do. They didn't really shut up even after I got a couple of wickets, they just kept going."

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