Durham were desperate to keep their secret weapon under wraps but once Shane Warne highlighted his talents it did not take long for the national team to come calling for Phil Mustard.
THERE are some in cricket who believe excellence is achieved through the use of sports science, the application of new technology and the mental preparation of careful psychology. Phil Mustard is the proof that raw talent is all that is really needed.
When the Australian Test star Mike Hussey arrived to captain Durham just over two years ago he quickly identified Mustard as a future England player, even though the youngster had only played a handful of first team games for the county.
There may, he said, not be much going on between the young man’s ears at times, but there was something devastating in his hands and feet which, according to Hussey, gave him the potential to become an explosive wicket-keeper batsman.
You have only ever been able to whisper it at the Riverside, but Mustard even had the potential to become a player as powerful as Australia’s consistent match-winning wicket-keeper Adam Gilchrist.
It was that comparison to Gilchrist, made by another Australian, this time the legendary leg spinner Shane Warne after Durham’s magnificent Friends Provident Trophy victory last month, which paved the way for Mustard’s call up to England’s one-day squad for the series against Sri Lanka yesterday.
While Durham have always attempted to keep Mustard’s feet firmly in the North-East until ready for the rigours of the international game, Warne’s enthusiastic endorsement and generous praise let the cat out of the bag.
“When someone like Shane Warne decides to praise someone like he did with me, people are automatically going to sit up and take notice,” said Mustard, who found out about his international selection as he travelled down to Kent with the rest of the Durham squad for their final Liverpool Victoria Championship game of the season.
“I was obviously delighted to hear him compare me to Adam Gilchrist, but I didn’t take that much notice because I knew I had to concentrate on doing the business for Durham before anything happened with England.
“In the end it has come quicker than I expected, but I’ve had a very good season in one-day cricket. I’m absolutely buzzing with the news and I’m really looking forward to it. Everyone wants to play for England and I’ve got that chance. It’s up to me to take it in Sri Lanka. I’m there for three weeks and we’ll see what happens.”
Nobody at the Riverside wanted to hold the 24-year-old back, they just felt the Sunderland-born former pupil at Washington’s Usworth Comprehensive School needed protecting from the pressure of international cricket until he had got his head round everything that was needed to succeed.
But perhaps it is Mustard’s refreshingly simple approach to the game, as well as his honesty and enthusiasm, that will give him the tools he needs to survive in international cricket.
Several players have tried and failed to become England’s wicketkeeper-batsman, with Geraint Jones and Matt Prior the latest to struggle in the spotlight, while players like Mustard’s Durham teammate Steve Harmison have found the mental pressure of international cricket far harder to deal with than the playing side of things.
Mustard, who scored 893 runs in domestic one-day cricket this season at an average of 49.61, could be different. For one, the pressure of being compared to a player as revered as Gilchrist is dismissed with a shrug of the shoulders which might even acquaint to a “who cares?”
“I’ve seen Gilchrist play, but I’ve not looked at him and based my game on him or anything like that,” he said. “I can’t play some of the shots he can play and he can’t play some of the shots I can play, we’re different players, we just happen to be wicketkeepers who like to attack.” And then there is his approach to the game, which remains the same whether he is playing for Hilton in the local leagues or in front of more than 20,000 people at Lord’s in a major one-day final.
“If the ball is there to be hit I hit it, it’s as simple as that,” said Mustard. “I won’t change that approach. When I walked out at Lord’s there were a few nerves, but once I got into the middle I felt fine again.
“Some people get wrapped up in technology and they are always analysing things when they get off the pitch, I just go out there and play the game in the same way I always have done.
“I enjoy playing cricket, no matter what game it is, I love the sport and I enjoy playing in a Lord’s final or a local league game. I hope that doesn’t change just because I’m playing for England.” So do Durham.
