Mushtaq Ahmed may not quite have been THE BALLS, but he was most definitely ‘the county balls’.

Every match he’d stumble in and take as many wickets as there are atoms in the universe (about nine) and every season he’d decide The County Championship.

It is very, very bad that he’s having to retire. Anyone who disagrees has to tell an old schoolfriend who’s better than them just what they’ve been doing with their life these last ten years.

Tags: Mushtaq Ahmed, Retirement, county cricket by King Cricket
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Well that’s made the County Championship a damn sight easier to predict.

Mushtaq Ahmed has played more of a part in deciding the competition than any other single player in recent years. He’s being allowed to play for Sussex despite competing in the naughty Twenty20 league, the ICL. He’ll be available for the whole season and will doubtless take heaps of wickets like usual.

Shane Warne’s competing in the perfectly acceptable Twenty20 league which despite its official status clashes with a good chunk of the English domestic season. He wouldn’t be turning out for Hampshire much because of that and his ‘poker commitments’ so he’s decided to retire instead.

So Hampshire are further weakened. Their new captain will be Dimitri Mascarenhas who is himself missing a load of matches because he’s appearing in the IPL. We’re glad that we’re not Paul Terry, Hampshire’s team manager. He might have to get his pads down from the loft at this rate.

Tags: Mushtaq Ahmed, Shane Warne, county cricket by King Cricket
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