Secret weapon or busted flush?

With England's imminent arrival the drums are beating for a recall for Mushtaq Ahmed, Pakistan's lost leg spinner. The theory goes that England will be vulnerable to spin, and Mushtaq's success in England means that, in his own words, he will be able to tie the England batsmen in knots. Those of you with reasonable medium-term memories will know that we have been down this road before.

In 2001, a series that England won thanks to a thrilling win in Karachi's twilight, spin was the main strategy employed by Pakistan's coach, Javed Miandad. Danish Kaneria made his debut for Pakistan and this same spin theory inspired a recall for Mushtaq, on the back of a tremendous season in county cricket. Mushtaq had taken over a hundred wickets. He was sporting a beard, symbol of a religious mind and a reformed character, the right credentials for a recall to national colours. England's batsmen, the logic went, would be clueless against him.

In truth, Mushtaq bowled well, much better than his unflattering statistics suggested. But it wasn't good enough: one Test, a lot of overs, and one wicket. England blocked and fended him away to trouble Pakistan in a series that the home side was expected to win. From the audacious match winner of his early days, Mushtaq had become a bowler who lacked penetration and genuine challenge to Test batsmen.

It wasn't always thus. At one time Mushtaq rivalled Shane Warne for the crown of best legspinner. And Mushtaq had one advantage over Warne: he possessed not one but many googlies - he still does. Three circumstances blocked Mushtaq's progress. First was the unending mudslinging and disunity that prevailed in the Pakistan team when match-fixing accusations were flying around at the end of the 1990s. Although Mushtaq escaped conviction, there was sufficient malodour to encourage the Pakistan Cricket Board to question his place in the Pakistan team. Finally, Saqlain Mushtaq's emergence meant that if Pakistan chose to play one spinner, that spinner was Saqlain, a spinner with a doosra.

By the time England arrived in Pakistan, along with Javed's negative spin strategy and Mushtaq's promise that love would be better second time around, you might have been excused for thinking that England would collapse at the sight of Mushtaq and Saqlain. That never happened, of course. England's batsmen were unruffled--and there is nothing more damning for a wicket-taking legspinner.

Mushtaq has always had a habit of serving up a four-ball each over and any pressure he exerted in that series was quickly dissipated by his regular buffet delivery. This tendency is something that Abdul Qadir finds unacceptable in a leg spinner. Moreover, England played Shane Warne pretty well this summer, as well as any team has played him in recent years.

Warne was bowling something near his best on wickets that had some life - not an over-the-hill Mushtaq bowling on Pakistan's dead spinning wickets. As heartless as this may sound, I believe Bob Woolmer and Inzamam-ul Haq have got it wrong in their preference for spin and suggestions for a recall for Mushtaq. Pakistan are better served by playing Shoaib Malik or Shahid Afridi as a second spin option to support Kaneria.

It says something about the logic of Pakistan cricket that it treats a fast bowler who is selected to lead the attack for the World XI as a dispensable commodity, yet seriously considers basing its whole strategy against England around a bowler who is a Test cricket down-and-out.