Mushtaq leads Sussex to County title
Posted on Sep 23, 2007 at 18:57
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Tags: cricket, english county, sussex
London: Pakistan spinner Mushtaq Ahmed was the hero as Sussex retained the English County Championship.
Chris Adams's side had beaten Worcestershire by an innings and 14 run win at Hove at lunch. But that was followed by an agonising wait to see Lancashire's challenge falter at the last.
It was over four hours before they heard that Lancashire had lost by 24 runs against Surrey. Lancashire needed 181 runs with five wickets remaining in the final session and Dominic Cork, who led a heroic last wicket stand as his side chased 489 to clinch their first outright title since 1934, made them sweat.
But when the former England all-rounder was bowled by Murtaza Hussain, Sussex were able to celebrate.
As has often been the case during Sussex's run of three titles in five years, Mushtaq was their match-winner.
With Worcestershire's Moeen Ali (85) and Gareth Batty (84) threatening to make the home side work much harder than anticipated, Mushtaq stepped in to take both their wickets on the way to match figures of 13 for 225.
Mushtaq was unplayable for much of the match and Sussex team manager Mark Robinson hailed his veteran star.
"Mushy has the strongest mental capacity I've known a cricketer to have and he's obviously an exceptional bowler as well," Robinson told BBC 5live. "We're very lucky to have him."
Adams admitted it has been a tense wait for the Lancashire result.
"It's been the most excruciating afternoon. Lancashire nearly did it," he said.
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