I said the Horsham Championship game against Nottinghamshire would see an intriguing battle between two brilliant leg-spinners.

Mushtaq Ahmed comfortably won the battle against Stuart MacGill and it was no coincidence, therefore, that Sussex won the war.

It was a privilege to play with and against two world-class spinners in one game. It is always fun to play against Test match players from overseas, the kind of players you have seen countless times on television.

I remember facing Shane Warne for the first time (just thought I'd drop that one in) and thinking how natural it was.

It felt like I had faced him 100 times before. Television technology today is so advanced that the numerous camera angles give us a kind of virtual experience.

I had similar feelings when batting against MacGill last week. I watched a fair bit of the Australia versus West Indies Test series earlier this month.

The Australian leggie bowled many overs in the Caribbean and so it again seemed entirely natural to be facing someone I had seen so much of on the box.

Facing a bowler in your head when watching telly is one thing but having to face him for real, when one mistake can send you back to the pavilion, is entirely another.

It was perhaps lucky for Sussex that MacGill did not look entirely with it during the game, a consequence, perhaps, of his exertions in the Caribbean.

He bowled plenty of full tosses and long hops, which meant our batsmen could patiently play out his good deliveries, knowing that a 'four' ball would be along any minute.

That said, he did give us a few glimpses of why he is so highly rated. When he did land the ball in the right place, it spun prodigiously, as Richard Montgomerie and Chris Adams discovered to their cost, and a cleverly disguised googly fooled Tony Cottey (who plays spin bowling as well as anyone) into playing no shot and he was given out lbw.

But there could be no doubt that Mushy's display outshone the Australian's. He delighted the Horsham crowd with his full repertoire of cunningly disguised variations.

In fact, if Baldrick himself had been a leg-spinner, I'd wager he wouldn't have been so cunning.

Big spinning leg-breaks bowled at different paces were mixed in with slightly quicker balls that dip and go straight on. But his piece de resistance is his googly. With his whirlwind action, batsmen find it difficult to pick and anyone who plays from the crease is in danger of being bowled or lbw.

I remember watching the 1992 World Cup final in Melbourne. Mushtaq, then playing for Pakistan, bamboozled England with a majestic spell of bowling. One ball in particular has always stuck in my mind - the googly that turned back a foot to hit a bemused Graeme Gooch plum in front of all three stumps.

In his 12 wickets last week, there were several dismissals like Gooch's. Mushtaq tells us he still has a burning ambition to play for Pakistan again. On the evidence we have seen so far, he is back to his best again and Pakistan must be crazy not to pick him.

Imagine if he was English. He'd be the first name penned in on David Graveney's list at every selection meeting.

Thursday May 29