Owais Shah to be KP's trump card

England Cricket / Ralph Ellis / 19 August 2008 / Leave a Comment

The new England captain is going to give players time to shine, says Ralph Ellis.

There are some sportsmen who get loads of chances. Think of Alan Shearer going through 23 England games with hardly a goal to show for them before suddenly exploding on the scene in Euro 96. Then there are some who seem to get hardly any chance at all. Think of Owais Shah.

The Middlesex batsman has had just two Test appearances in more than a decade of consistent run scoring with his county, and while 31 One Day internationals would tend to suggest he's had more chance in the limited overs form of the game, there's never really been a sustained opportunity to shine. Nicknamed 'Ace', he's been held back in the pack instead of being played as a trump card far too often.

That's all going to change this week now Kevin Pietersen is in charge of England's cricket team. The changing of the guard has left holes in the batting order to be filled, and KP wants Shah to step in to them.

Rain stopped the 29-year-old from batting at number three yesterday in the warm-up game with Scotland. It didn't stop KP giving him a massive boost to his confidence with the promise that he'll have that place in the line-up right through the one day series against South Africa, starting in tomorrow's Twenty20 clash at Durham and carrying on all through the main series when it starts on Friday.

'Ace is going to bat at three because - the good player that he is - he was wasted down at six,' Pietersen tells this morning's papers. 'He is a high-scoring player who plays proper cricket strokes to get boundaries. He has done his job for us whenever he's played. He got a one-day hundred against India last year and he's got some real good runs for us this year too. That should give him the confidence to bat at three.'

I had my doubts about Pietersen as a captain when his appointment was announced, but I'm beginning to be converted. At the moment he's giving all the positive signs, and his treatment of Shah is exactly the sort of leadership players love - the man in charge telling them how good they are and giving them the confidence to perform. England are [2.14] to win the Twenty20 bash, and [3.0] to win the ODI series, and both could be worth backing.

Pietersen is clearly going to hold himself back at number four in the order, despite the temptation to go in sooner, and again that's a good statement of faith in his other batsmen. His aim is to make all the players clearly aware of their role within the team, and that can only be a positive way to start a new era after Michael Vaughan and Paul Collingwood both stood down. It could also help bring some consistency to both the Test and One Day selection which would help towards winning back the Ashes. A repeat of the glorious summer of 2005 is still a long price at [3.35]

Back in 1996 Terry Venables identified Shearer as the top striker and stuck with him until thin turned to thick. In exactly the same way KP is aiming to give good players time to show their full potential. At least if Shah doesn't do it now he'll have nobody to blame but himself.

Five things you might not know about Owais Shah

1. Born in Karachi, Pakistan in 1978, his family came to England when he was five and at the age of eight he played cricket for the first time with Wycombe House club in West London

2. His maiden first class century against Notts in 1997 made him the youngest to score a ton for Middlesex since the great Denis Compton

3. He credits a trip to India to work at a newly opened cricket academy with Mohammed Azharuddin for adding nearly 1,000 runs a season to his totals

4. He suffers from hand cramps and needs to drink regularly when he's batting

5. Married to Gemma, he became a dad for the first time earlier this year when their daughter Maya was born.