Owais Shah recently put pen to paper on a two-year deal to sign for Essex, a move that should ensure the county are amongst the favourites to return to Division One of the County Championship.
Essex were relegated last season due in the main to a serious lack of runs. Ravi Bopara managed only eight Championship games due to IPL committments, Alastair Cook playing as many as seven was a bonus, throw in the injury to Ryan ten Doeschate and Essex had problems fielding their strongest side on a regular basis.
In truth, Essex have lacked a consistenly reliable runscorer for some time. While Shah's form drifted off last season (he scored 804 runs at 36.54), he can generally be relied upon to pass the 1,000 run barrier in first-class cricket. He did so for eight consecutive seasons from 2000 to 2008.
Essex's top runscorers in 2010 were James Foster and Jaik Mickleburgh who both made 839 Championship runs at 32.26 and 29.96.
Shah still has the desire to get back into England reckoning, he wants to continue pushing himself and is motivated by the challenge. But at 32 it would most probably take quite a lengthy injury list before England would turn back to Shah. His team-mate, Bopara, would consider himself to be above Shah in the list should England come calling again.
Mark Ramprakash was a similar age when he left Middlesex for Surrey in 2001 and his desire to score big runs has certainly not diminished.
Shah was hurt by the way he found out of Middlesex's decision to release him, he made his debut for the club in 1996, and found out about his departure via a friend. Courtesy should have ensured Shah was the first to know. If he is smarting from the disappointment of being released, that can only spell trouble for the bowlers in Division Two.
No comments:
Post a Comment