Persistent knee trouble may have taken the spring from the bowling of Mushtaq Ahmed this season, but if the round of interviews to mark his retirement is a guide, then the bounce in his personality remains. Thanks and admiration are mutual: Mushtaq has been good for Sussex and Sussex have been good for him.

According to The Argus in Brighton yesterday, Mushtaq is the greatest player to have represented the county in their 169 years. The instinct was to snort and think of Maurice Tate, John Snow, Ranjitsinhji and Ted Dexter. Yet it took the arrival of Mushtaq for Sussex to win the championship for the first time in 2003.

They succeeded again in 2006 and 2007 and Mushtaq's hauls of wickets for each season before this one - 103, 82, 80, 102 and 90 - reads more like the sequence of an in-form batsman than a bowler in the age of 16 championship matches. He could be the best overseas signing made by any county.

With a truncated contribution in 2008 he has taken 478 Sussex wickets at an average of 25.34. This afternoon, Peter Moores, the former coach, will go to Hove after England practice at the Brit Oval to make a presentation on behalf of the club. But for Mushtaq propelling Sussex, the career of Moores might not have taken its upward curve.

Mushtaq, describing the club as his second home, said that his proudest moment was being named the official Citizen of the Year for Brighton & Hove earlier in the year. “I never thought that a cricketer would win because the year before it was Fatboy Slim,” he said. “Maybe he thought I was a good dancer.”

The last of his 52 Test appearances came five years ago, although he believes that he has bowled better than ever since he joined Sussex. “If I had played for Pakistan in that time, I could have taken 400 or 500 wickets,” he said. “It was their loss.”

He is encouraged by the emerging wrist-spin bowlers here and believes that Adil Rashid, of Yorkshire, is close to warranting an England Test place. “I see the future of leg spin more in England than India or Pakistan,” he said. “They are looking after the young bowlers and giving them confidence. If you look after the tree, it will bear you good fruit.”

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