Mushtaq out for fortnight

Sussex are left without their talisman © Getty Images

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Sussex will be without star leg-spinner Mushtaq Ahmed for at least a fortnight after he underwent keyhole surgery on his left knee.

The Pakistani talisman is forced to miss Sussex’s ongoing LV County Championship match with Surrey, which got under way at Hove on Thursday after a washout on day one.

He has been the guiding force in two successive County Championship title campaigns, taking 90 wickets last season and 102 in 2006.

Sussex cricket manager Mark Robinson said: “It is a routine operation that many sportsmen have. We are hopeful that Mushy will be back between two and three weeks.

“We made the decision very quickly on Wednesday morning.

"We were originally hoping that we would just play him in four-day cricket up to the Twenty20 window where he’d then have the operation.

“On reflection, we felt it wouldn’t be right to compromise our strike bowler by having him playing in discomfort.

“So with the amount of unsettled weather around, and the fact our club surgeon said he could get him in that day, we felt it was the wisest decision to make.”

Under Sussex's policy, Mushtaq, 37, would probably have missed next week's Friends Provident Trophy matches against Kent, Middlesex, Surrey and Kent again, regardless of the surgery.

But he is now also a doubt for this month's championship encounter with Somerset at Taunton and Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge.

Mushtaq suffered from shoulder problems last season, and was out of action with a neck injury in 2006, but this latest injury to his right knee could of greater concern as Sussex aim for a third successive championship title.

He has generally remained fit for his county since his omission from the Pakistan side, for whom he last played in 2003.

In his absence, Sussex have picked off-spinning all-rounder Ollie Rayner against Surrey.

Rayner made a century on his first-class debut against the touring Sri Lankans in 2006.