Goodbye Mushie

The great little man has left the building.

Grand Master Mushtaq has quit Sussex and we will never see that double arm twirl again.

Mushtaq was more than a bowler to me, he was leg spin.

I even have the unnecessary double arm twirl in my action.

While the whole world was going crazy over Warne, I was a Mushie fan, in Melbourne that never went over that well.

Mushie bounced in, he was magical, like a leprechaun on ice.

Warne was the leg spinner you liked if you knew nothing about leg spinning.

Mushie was the leg spinners leggie, a performance artist who relied on enough leg spin to beat the bat without being ridiculous about it.

He was a pure leg spinner.

His weapon was the wrong’un, and what a weapon it was, it didn’t spin back in at the stumps, it honed in on them like a heat seeking missile.

His toppie was so simple you could almost discount it as a great ball, which is why it was so good.

Every one waited for the wrong’un to destroy them, but more often than not the toppie got them first.

His leggies may not have spun sideways, but they span, they bounced, and they fizzed, oh how they fizzed.

Quite often the most simple of cut shots seemed impossible as Mushie would drag you into the position he wanted, and then plan your demise.

He was not a one ball wicket taker, he could plan a batsman out of several overs until he had them just where he wanted them.

At the 92’ world cup he showed that spinners weren’t just window dressing in one day matches, they could be kings.

And he was king in that world cup.

Over the years Pakistan politics, Saqlain’s doosra, and old age meant that his genius was not shown on the world stage any where near enough.

Instead he found himself embraced in County cricket.

There his legend actually grew, as he took Sussex and put them on his shoulders.

Even from Melbourne I would follow Mushie at Sussex, and just marvel at the shear weight of wickets the little man with the huge heart would take.

Chris Adams, Sussex’s captain gushed about Mushie as a cricketer, but he even went a step further.

“He is simply a great man.”

One of the things I wanted to do when I first got to London was watch Mushie one last time, and selfishly I am angry that those little knees of his couldn’t keep him out long enough for me to see one last spell of magic.

His body knew it was time to leave.

To me he was more than a bowler.

He was a hero, an idol, a God, and I am heart broken to see him go.

Thanks for the magic Mushie.www.cricketwithballs.com... fighting the war on tony greig