Ace Owais confident after England shuffle pack

Twenty20 / Editor / 02 July 2007 / Leave a Comment

Owais Shah feels England's successive wins against the West Indies can help himself and the team put their one-day record on track.

England have a new coach in Peter Moores, new captain in Paul Collingwood and a new-look one-day international squad following the disappointing showing at the World Cup in the Caribbean earlier this year.

And, despite losing their first Twenty20 game against the Windies at the Oval on Thursday, they hit back to take the second game the following night before, winning the first NatWest one-day international series game at Lord's on Sunday.

Middlesex batsman Shah hit a sparkling 55 in the Twenty20 game, before firing 42 off 38 balls in the 50-over encounter and the 28-year-old feels he is now starting to find his form, while the new set-up can go on to secure some much-needed consistency from those victories.

He said: "We've obviously got a new coach and it's a fresh start and it helps that we started well.

"If you also look back to last week, for us to win has brought us closer together as a team which I think is more important in one-day cricket.

"If you can play together as a team in one-day cricket, it carries a lot of value, and winning games from certain situations when we might not have in the past brings belief."

On the change of coach and players in the squad, Shah added: "I think the timing of it all was important when you look at where English one-day cricket was.

"It was almost an opportunity to make a statement to everyone in England and everyone looking at this England team.

"It said that this is a new start and, after winning in that situation, it created a new belief among ourselves that we can win games when we're not favourites and come through.

"The game at Lord's was a good example when we perhaps didn't have as many runs as we wanted but the boys came out and bowled beautifully and used the conditions well."

England have lost the toss in all three of their limited overs meetings with West Indies this summer and new skipper Collingwood will be hoping for better luck at Edgbaston tomorrow.

England are Betfair's 1.6 favouries to follow up victories at The Oval and Lord's with another in Birmingham, with West Indies 2.6 for a win that would keep the three match series alive.

But with showers again forecast for the area on Wednesday, there is sure to be interest in Betfair's Completed Match market for the second ODI.