‘Never let him settle’: Spin legend Mushie on Warne, Lyon and how Bangladesh humbled Australia

Mackay: Early on the 1993 Ashes tour, Ian Healy introduced Shane Warne to Mushtaq Ahmed, the whirling wrist spinner who was serving as Somerset’s overseas player after doing well for Pakistan the previous year.

Sitting outside a cafe in Mackay, where he is serving as Bangladesh spin coach, Mushtaq laughingly recalls how, as the more established spinner in international cricket at the time, he told Warne all he knew about bowling on slow pitches in England, changing his pace and dealing with a damp ball.

A few weeks later, Mushtaq came off the field for Somerset to see replays of what Warne had done to Mike Gatting with his first ball in an Ashes Test in England.

“I discussed those things for a good 40-minute chat,” Mushtaq tells this masthead. “Then after that when he bowled his first ball to Mike Gatting, I decided, well, actually, I am the one who needs to get some lessons from Warney.”

Their relationship was a fruitful one as fellow leg-spinners, in what became a fine era for tweakers. A couple of years later they duelled in a series in Australia, Mushtaq claiming 18 wickets in two Tests and gaining a victory at the SCG, still Pakistan’s most recent on these shores. Warne scooped 19 in the two matches for which he was fit to bowl.

In the 2000s, they shared county games with each other as Warne, Mushtaq, Anil Kumble, Saqlain Mushtaq and Muttiah Muralitharan all spent their northern summers in England.

“We used to talk a lot, Warney, Murali, Saqlain. When we used to play, after the game we would share knowledge, tell each other things,” Mushtaq says. “Warney was very good on that, he used to say ‘your wrong’un is better’, and I’d say ‘your leggie is so good, man’.

“We had different strengths and weaknesses. I would ask him about the flipper, he’d ask me about the wrong’un. We’d share knowledge and tactical moves, but also be smart not to tell each other everything.

“We had a very good relationship, but we were very competitive. I never wanted to give him my wicket, but he would also try to smash me. We’d have a smile on our faces, but we were in battle all the time.”

After a prolific stint with Sussex, Mushtaq moved straight into a coaching role with England, where he mentored Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar through three consecutive Ashes wins and a rare series victory in India, where he also worked closely with Kevin Pietersen. Crucially, Mushtaq was a less intense counterpoint to then head coach Andy Flower, serving as a link between the players and their strict headmaster.

“I never coached Swanny,” Mushtaq says. “He didn’t like to be coached. We played more tactical games. We used to play against each other, and the first thing he said was, ‘I don’t like to be coached’, so I said don’t worry about it, I will never coach, but tactically you know how to get people out, what angles of bowling you have to learn.

“What pace you need to bowl in Brisbane, or in Mumbai, or Sri Lanka, which batsman needs what. Tactical field positions when the pitch is turning. Where you want to let the batsman play, all those things. So he started to trust me, and that’s when you get the best results.