Sussex swoop for Sami's services

Hot on the heels of Mushtaq Ahmed's retirement from county cricket, Sussex have swooped to sign another Pakistani, Mohammad Sami.

Mushtaq, who has suffered from persistent knee trouble, hung up his boots four days ago, and has been instrumental in helping Sussex secure Sami's services.

"Mushtaq helped massively with the signing of Mohammad - spending ten days, almost non-stop, on the phone making sure that everything went smoothly," Mark Robinson, the club's cricket manager, said. "We had originally hoped that Mohammad would be here in time for last week's match with Nottinghamshire. However, his arrival late last night will give everybody a boost for what is increasingly looking like an extremely important game at Scarborough on Wednesday."

Gus Mackay, the club's chief executive, commented: "Mohammad's arrival comes just in time for an intense finish to the domestic season. It will be an exciting month and his experience and ability should prove vital in our search for more silverware."

Sussex, the Championship title holders, are placed sixth in Division One, yet only 16 points separate them and the leaders, Nottinghamshire, in another frantic finish to the season's premier competition.