Hove (England), Sept 18: Pakistan leg-spinner Mushtaq Ahmed became the first bowler for five years to take 100 wickets in an English county season. Mushtaq, who has been instrumental in Sussex's drive towards their first county championship win, claimed his 100th scalp of the summer yesterday when he bowled Leicestershire's Australian Brad Hodge with the last ball before lunch on the first day of the county's last match of the summer.
The Pakistani maestro is the first bowler to take 100 wickets since West Indies fast bowler Courtney Walsh, playing for Gloucestershire, and Somerset and England's Andrew Caddick achieved the feat in 1998.
No spinner has achieved the feat since Anil Kumble did it for Leicestershire back in 1995.
Mushtaq himself might have achieved the feat the same season when he took 95 wickets for Somerset but missed their final game due to illness.
The spinner recently identified his maturity as a bowler as the key to his success on English tracks this summer.
"I was trying to get a wicket every ball back in 1995, but I've got the experience now and I am more patient. Sometimes you have to wear down a batsman in order to get him out.
"Batsmen sometimes make a mistake when they think they can read you because they get too relaxed. They think they can start to play some shots which always gives you a chance as a spinner." Bureau Report