 Mushtaq is a key reason for Sussex's success this season |
Shane Warne gets all of the credit now for the re-emergence of leg-spin in international cricket, but for the first part of the 1990s he had a serious rival in Mushtaq Ahmed. It is hard to believe the man who had England in complete disarray in a World Cup final is not still playing for Pakistan.
At 33, Mushtaq has taken 52 wickets for new team Sussex so far this year, leading them to second place in the County Championship going into the latest round of matches.
The haul is 17 more than his nearest rival, team-mate James Kirtley.
His unique action, arms flailing like two windmills placed back-to-back as he whizzes in to bowl, is almost as enjoyable to watch as his range of bamboozling deliveries.
And he is still preaching the message to a younger generation too: You don't have to be fast to be cool.
The Punjabi is the figurehead in Sussex's search for a home-grown spinner of similar talent, leading master-classes for teenagers.
 |  My ambition is to get as many wickets as possible and play for Pakistan |
He believes the only way England will discover a spin wizard to rival Warne, Muttiah Muralitharan or Harbhajan Singh is to lighten up a little.
"When they play club cricket over here, kids are more sensitive than in Pakistan," he says.
"If a leg-spinner goes for a few runs here, after a few weeks the coach says, 'Have a rest'. Then they want to be seamers.
"Everybody should have an Academy to bring back leg-spinners, to tell them, 'Just have a bowl; we don't need a performance from you.'
"Then in two or three years maybe you can produce a good spinner."
Despite failing to figure in the selectors' minds since a disappointing tour of New Zealand in 2001, Mushtaq has not given up hope of a return at the highest level.
"In the last two years I've been bowling well at home, taking lots of wickets," he says.
"Then the papers say, 'Why isn't Mushie in the side?' but it's up to [the selectors].
"I'll never go and ask them why I'm not considered because when you believe in God you have to have dignity in front of humans.
"My duty is to get wickets and tell them I'm taking wickets."
And that is exactly what he has been doing at Hove this summer, with Warwickshire the latest victims, Mushtaq twirling his way to an 11-wicket match haul this week.
Observers point to a loss in weight, a renewed vigour. After a decade on the county circuit, spending much of the 1990s with Somerset, Mushtaq is more pragmatic.
"I always enjoy my game; I work hard," he says.
| MUSHTAQ AHMED FACTFILE Born: Sahiwal, Punjab, 28/6/1970 Tests: 50
183 wkts, ave 32.24, best 7-56
ODIs: 143
161 wkts, ave 32.89, best 5-36
First-class matches: 218
940 wkts, ave 25.75, best 9-93
|
"I've got a good four years left and I want to spend those four years as a good cricketer not an ordinary one.
"My ambition is to get as many wickets as possible in first-class cricket and play for Pakistan in Test cricket.
"I have to work hard and earn my money - cricket is my profession - and if [the selectors] don't consider me then I'll just play county cricket, why not?"
For Sussex, he is the final piece in the puzzle, complimenting a productive pace attack and a blazing batting line-up that has nevertheless been unable to challenge for Championship honours.
"We've got a great bowling side with great variety so it's just a matter of clicking," Mushtaq says.
"James Kirtley and myself have a good partnership so that's really good for the club."
And the leg-spinners toiling in the Sussex Academy have found a new role model in a man many would argue did as much as Warne to put leg-spin back on the map.
"If I speak to a leg-spinner I tell them that in the first few years I used to get hammered everywhere in every game but I never gave up," he says.
And while he is in such great form, he is not about to.
MMIX
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