Shah released by Middlesex

Interesting one. Must be a story behind this.

Will probably join Surrey and score 1000's just like his hero Ramps.

I was surprised when I heard this, hopefully Somerset make a move for him, I think he could score shed loads at Taunton.

I saw this on Cricinfo, then scrolled down to read the comments and there was one eulogising about Shah's general wonderfulness and the fact that he was undeniably the greatest batsman ever to play the game, or something like that. I thought, "incredible, someone agrees with Jason H", then noticed the username was Jason Harcourt.

It's just you, mate!

Decent county player who never really did it on the big stage due to poor technique/fielding...

I'm really surprised to read this, he will certainly be a good acquisition for whoever snaps him up for next season.

I don't think he was ever given a fair chance by the England set-up.

mustangspeed2006 said:

I don't think he was ever given a fair chance by the England set-up.

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You are Jason H and I claim my five pounds.

One of the best one day batsmen in the world on his day. Never really cut it at test level due to lack of opportunity in part and poor perfomances when given his chance. Very good county player.

He simply tried too hard when it came to the Tests, knowing he would never get the opportunity as the management didn't like him - this translated to the general nervousness you'd see with him - whether it was anxiety between the wickets or poor fielding. You could probably count on the fingers of one hand the number of run outs he has been involved with at Middx, likewise dropped catches.

The technique was quite a strange thing really - growing up he had the most classic of styles (and was also a more than handy quick bowler!) - I wonder if it was when he spent some time with another slightly unorthodox batsman in Azharuddin that he adapted his style.

Shocking management anyway. How can you release someone who has played for you for 20 years, and who turned down offers from other counties during that time, and not even bother telling them? I hope that he does find another county and he "does a Ramps" (i.e. scores 200s against Middx every bl**dy year!).

The other strange thing is that they have done this ostensibly to release funds to keep Eoin Morgan, who in reply will play just a handful of matches each season currently.

Jason H said:

He simply tried too hard when it came to the Tests, knowing he would never get the opportunity as the management didn't like him - this translated to the general nervousness you'd see with him - whether it was anxiety between the wickets or poor fielding. You could probably count on the fingers of one hand the number of run outs he has been involved with at Middx, likewise dropped catches.

The technique was quite a strange thing really - growing up he had the most classic of styles (and was also a more than handy quick bowler!) - I wonder if it was when he spent some time with another slightly unorthodox batsman in Azharuddin that he adapted his style.

Shocking management anyway. How can you release someone who has played for you for 20 years, and who turned down offers from other counties during that time, and not even bother telling them? I hope that he does find another county and he "does a Ramps" (i.e. scores 200s against Middx every bl**dy year!).

The other strange thing is that they have done this ostensibly to release funds to keep Eoin Morgan, who in reply will play just a handful of matches each season currently.

Click to expand...

Yes this was something that shocked me over the years, he was a very talented classical batsman, very elegant cover driver etc, I once saw him make a hundred at Taunton, he made the game look so easy and looked a very elegant player, for some bizarre reason his game changed completely a few years ago and he became very bottom handed, I could never understand what had happened, I have rarely seen a batsman change so much.

Thing is, though, you look at his career figures prior to and post the change, and it kinda shows the change did him good.