Mushtaq Ahmed (born 28 June 1970) is a retired
PakistanPakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
i cricketer who specialised as a
leg spinLeg spin is a type of spin bowling in the sport of cricket. A leg spinner bowls right-arm with a wrist spin action, causing the ball to spin from right to left in the cricket pitch, at the point of delivery. When the ball bounces, the spin causes the ball to deviate sharply from right to left, that...
bowler. He was known for his hard-to-pick
googlyIn cricket, a googly is a type of delivery bowled by a right-arm leg spin bowler. It is occasionally referred to as a Bosie , an eponym in honour of its inventor Bernard Bosanquet.- Explanation :...
. He memorably trapped
Graeme HickGraeme Ashley Hick MBE is a Zimbabwean-born cricketer who played 65 Test matches and 120 One Day Internationals for England. He played county cricket for Worcestershire for his entire English domestic career, a period of well over twenty years, and in 2008 he surpassed Graham Gooch's record for...
in front with one during the
1992 World Cup-New Zealand:-Round Robin Stage:Co-hosts New Zealand proved the surprise packet of the tournament, winning their first seven games to finish on top of the table after the round robin. The other hosts, Australia, were one of the pre-tournament favourites but lost their first two matches. They...
final. He was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1997. Nevertheless, despite taking over 150 One Day International and
TestTest cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...
wickets, he hasn't played international cricket since October 2003. He is now the spin bowling coach for the England Cricket Team.
However, he has played a lot of county cricket in
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, including for
SomersetSomerset County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Somerset...
and
SurreySurrey County Cricket Club is one of the 18 professional county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Surrey. Its limited overs team is called the Surrey Lions...
earlier in his career and more recently for
SussexSussex County Cricket Club is the oldest of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Sussex. The club was founded as a successor to Brighton Cricket Club which was a representative of the county of Sussex as a...
.
In 2003, Mushtaq was the leading wicket taker in
county cricketCounty cricket is the highest level of domestic cricket in England and Wales. For the 2010 season, see 2010 English cricket season.-First-class counties:...
, finishing the season with 103 and inspiring Sussex to its first
County ChampionshipThe County Championship is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales...
title. Following this, he was recalled by Pakistan but was soon dropped for being ineffective. In the 2004 season, Mushtaq was again the leading wicket taker in English county cricket with 84 scalps, but with
Danish KaneriaDanish Prabha Shanker Kaneria is a Pakistani cricketer . Danish Kaneria has continued the tradition of great Pakistani leg spin bowlers and possesses a very well disguised googly...
's emergence as Pakistan's first-choice leg spinner, Mushtaq's international career was over.
In December 2006, the
PCBThe Pakistan Cricket Board is a sporting organization that is responsible for governing all professional cricket including Test cricket and One Day International matches played in Pakistan...
appointed Mushtaq as assistant coach of the Pakistan team. He acted as interim coach for team's final game of the
2007 World CupThe 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup was the ninth edition of the ICC Cricket World Cup tournament that took place in the West Indies from 13 March to 28 April 2007, using the sport's One Day International format...
following the death of
Bob WoolmerRobert Andrew Woolmer was an international cricketer, professional cricket coach and also a professional commentator...
.
In
2006The 2006 English cricket season includes home international series for England against Sri Lanka and Pakistan. England are coming off a winter with more Test losses than wins, for the first time since 2002-03, but still attained their best series result in India since 1985...
, Mushtaq (or "Mushy" as he is best known to Sussex fans) took 102 wickets as Sussex once more won the County Championship, as well as the
C&G TrophyThe Friends Provident Trophy was a one-day cricket competition in the United Kingdom.It was one of the four tournaments in which the eighteen first-class counties compete each season. They were joined by teams from Scotland and Ireland...
. He began the last Championship match of the season, against
NottinghamshireNottinghamshire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Nottinghamshire, and the current county champions. Its limited overs team is called the Nottinghamshire Outlaws...
, on 89 wickets, but a haul of 13 in the match (including a career-best 9-48 in the second innings) took him past the hundred mark once again.
In
2007The 2007 English cricket season began on Saturday 14 April 2007 with the match between MCC and the 2006 county champions Sussex at Lord's.-Roll of honour:Test series*England v West Indies: 4 Tests - England won 3–0....
, Sussex won the County Championship for the second time in two years, again helped greatly by Mushtaq, who took 90 wickets.
Domestic career
Mushtaq Ahmed had an amazing turn of fortune in 2002 when he was given a trial by
Sussex County Cricket ClubSussex County Cricket Club is the oldest of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Sussex. The club was founded as a successor to Brighton Cricket Club which was a representative of the county of Sussex as a...
. He became the leading county wicket taker for four seasons in a row, playing a major role in Sussex's first ever county championship title.
On the 27 August 2008, it was announced by Sussex that Mushtaq was to retire from county cricket due to persistent knee trouble that had prevented him playing regularly during the 2008 season. He announced his intention to continue playing for
Indian Cricket LeagueThe Indian Cricket League was a private cricket league funded by Zee Entertainment Enterprises that operated between 2007 and 2009 in India...
(ICL) side Lahore Badshahs and in an interview with
PakPassion.NetPakPassion.Net is a website, forum and accredited cricket media founded in 2000 and dedicated principally to the sport of cricket and more specifically to the Pakistani cricket team....
in September 2008, he wished that ICL would co-exist with
IPLThe Indian Premier League is a professional league for Twenty20 cricket competition in India. It was initiated by the Board of Control for Cricket in India , headquartered in Mumbai, and is supervised by BCCI Vice President Rajeev Shukla, who serves as the league's Chairman and Commissioner...
as well as mentioning his intention to begin coaching either in UK or Pakistan.