Mushtaq ponders return to Pakistan

England could soon be looking for a new spin-bowling coach after Mushtaq Ahmed held preliminary talks with Pakistan cricket officials in Lahore this week. New Pakistan coach Dav Whatmore is seeking to put together his staff and Standard Sport understands there could be a role for Mushtaq, who has worked with England since 2008. The England and Wales Cricket Board are now considering their next steps, and Hugh Morris, the managing director of England cricket, is expected to speak to Mushtaq in the coming days to gauge the Pakistani’s intentions.
As much as he enjoys working with the England team, Mushtaq is thought to be keen to spend more time with his wife and children, who live in Pakistan. He is believed to have had a two-hour meeting in Lahore with Pakistan Cricket Board director Intikhab Alam, where the options for Mushtaq’s possible return were discussed. There are two positions for which the former leg spinner could be considered: that of a bowling coach for the Pakistan senior team, or a more wide-ranging role guiding the country’s most talented youngsters at the National Cricket Academy in Lahore. Should Mushtaq work with the senior team, he would operate alongside former cricket and baseball player Julien Fountain, who is Pakistan’s specialist fielding coach, as well as Whatmore. Mushtaq is on a consultancy contract with the ECB, which means he is available to work with the senior side only for a certain number of days per year, and that deal has two years to run. Until recently, batting coach Graham Gooch had a similar arrangement to Mushtaq but was promoted to Andy Flower’s full-time staff prior to the recent tour of Sri Lanka.
The ECB would be sorry to lose Mushtaq, who they believe has done excellent work with England during more than three years around the team. Mushtaq has been in the England set-up while Graeme Swann has established himself as one of the best spinners in the world, and his influence is appreciated by the batsmen, too.
Kevin Pietersen had a difficult time as England were whitewashed 3-0 by Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates in January and February, but improved dramatically in the limited-overs matches that followed after intensive work in the nets with Mushtaq. Pietersen scored two centuries in the one-day series and then played one of his best Test innings in Colombo last week, a blistering 151 that put England in a position to win their only Test of the winter.
Mushtaq is popular with the players, who know him affectionately as “Mr Mushy”, yet there is also an understanding at the ECB that if the 41-year-old were offered a full-time contract by the PCB, it would be difficult to stand in his way. Under such circumstances, the only option for the ECB would be to add Mushtaq to Flower’s staff for the entire international year. While Mushtaq is the main point of contact for slow bowlers in the England senior set-up, the former Essex and England bowler Peter Such is in charge of nurturing younger spinners at the ECB’s coaching base in Loughborough. Pakistan’s next international cricket is a Test and limited-overs tour of Sri Lanka in May and June.