Mushtaq retires

[Julian87]

Good luck to him. He was a great influence on my bowling.

 

[Richard]

A poor man's Abdul Qadir at best.

Abdul could've done better too, though.

 

[Richard]

I doubt he would've ever wanted to play for England so I hardly think England missed out on his services in their national side.

I think there was a time when he was certainly considering it. Saqlain and Azhar Mahmood are both now England-qualified (though unlikely to play, for obvious reasons - neither are that good, Azhar never was).

 

[Xuhaib]

I think there was a time when he was certainly considering it. Saqlain and Azhar Mahmood are both now England-qualified (though unlikely to play, for obvious reasons - neither are that good, Azhar never was).

In 97-98 he was better then your Mark Ealham's ,Ian Austin's and all the other piss poor all-rounders you guys tried out.

 

[Xuhaib]

Abdul could've done better too, though.

Qadir was an enigma many a times his off-field antics took his focus away from the game and he suffered from form slumps, talent wise he was miles ahead of mush.

 

[zaremba]

Qadir was an enigma many a times his off-field antics took his focus away from the game and he suffered from form slumps, talent wise he was miles ahead of mush.

That may be but your description of Mushy as "a poor man's Qadir at best" is pretty misleading. He didn't even play for Pakistan in what were (as he says himself) his best years. His impact in England has been phenomenal.

 

[Somerset]

I think there was a time when he was certainly considering it. Saqlain and Azhar Mahmood are both now England-qualified (though unlikely to play, for obvious reasons - neither are that good, Azhar never was).

Didn't Jesse Ryder "consider" the same thing? Obviously it was never going to happen (and so it proved to be) and I'd imagine Mushtaq Ahmed would be a similar enough case.

 

[Richard]

Does Ryder actually think about anything? Or does he just act impulsively? Evidence to date suggests the latter, and his "move" to Ireland strikes me as one such example.

 

[Somerset]

Does Ryder actually think about anything? Or does he just act impulsively? Evidence to date suggests the latter, and his "move" to Ireland strikes me as one such example.

To be fair, we haven't heard of any further incidents surrounding Ryder since the night out that resulted in him injuring his hand in early March. Effectively that caused him to miss the tour of England, a highlight of any player's career for sure, so hopefully that'll make him think a little harder about his decisions off the field from now on - wouldn't exactly bet on it though.

 

[Richard]

He's 23 (or is it 24?) now - I usually give-up hope on people by that age. If he was going to change you'd think it'd have happened by now.

You always continue to hope though, and sometimes people are, well, late learners.

 

[Somerset]

He's 23 (or is it 24?) now - I usually give-up hope on people by that age. If he was going to change you'd think it'd have happened by now.

You always continue to hope though, and sometimes people are, well, late learners.

He turned 24 earlier in the month so a pretty good guess there.

 

[Perm]

He's 23 (or is it 24?) now - I usually give-up hope on people by that age. If he was going to change you'd think it'd have happened by now..

Disagree very strongly with the above comment.

See Cowan, Jimmy.

 

[Precambrian]

Disagree very strongly with the above comment.

See Cowan, Jimmy.

Ricky Ponting.

 

[PhoenixFire]

See Andrew Strauss also.

 

[Richard]

Strauss a maverick?

I haven't read any of his autobios, sure, but that just sounds so out-of-place if true.

And Ponting may have been a little errant, but nowhere near as bad as Ryder to date.

 

[Pup Clarke]

Would imagine it would be to do with his innings at Napier.

 

[Pup Clarke]

He's 23 (or is it 24?) now - I usually give-up hope on people by that age. If he was going to change you'd think it'd have happened by now.

Haha, dire.

 

[Richard]

Nah. Dunno how much experience you have of self-destructive types?

 

[Pup Clarke]

Yeah some, wouldn't write them off though.

 

[Perm]

Nah. Dunno how much experience you have of self-destructive types?

I've got plenty, just ftr, and 'writing people off' at 23/24 is absolute lunacy, as well as completely ignorant and uninformed.