Return To International Cricket
Despite a fairly solid start to his international career, however, Shah could not produce the required consistency of form, making just one more fifty in ten innings from 2001/02 to 2002/03. He also suffered from a perception that his fielding was below par, something close to unforgivable in the modern one-day game, and he was dropped from the England side without having had a chance at Test cricket. In 2004, a year of success with the bat (1,336 runs at 53.44) was tempered by the loss of his Middlesex captaincy in mid-season after some poor results.
2005 brought much-improved returns, as he was top-scorer of the First Division of the County Championship with two weeks left to play, having made 1578 runs at an average of 65.75. At the end of the county season in September, Shah was being talked of as a possibility for England's winter tours of Pakistan and India.
He was selected for the England 'B' team tour of the West Indies that winter, but was called up to the squad for the first-team tour of India after England suffered several injuries. He made his Test debut in the third Test at Mumbai on 18 March 2006, making 88 in his first Test innings.
He returned to the England Test squad, after 15 months out, for the first Test match against the West Indies at his home ground of Lord's; however, he scored 6 and 4 in the two innings, in an otherwise productive England batting lineup. He was dropped from the squad for the second Test following captain Michael Vaughan's return to fitness.
Shah was, however, brought back for the ODI series, including two Twenty20 internationals. While making little contribution with the bat in the first match, in which England were defeated, Shah hit a match winning 55 off 35 deliveries in the second, with England drawing the Twenty20 series 1-1. He was later made man of the match. He has changed his game somewhat in recent times, and is not the classical batsman that he was in his early years; however, he still possesses a wide range of shots, with the pull shot and the fierce slap through extra cover being the most prominent.
His maiden ODI century came against India at The Oval on 5 September 2007, when he made 107* off 95 balls. Later in the same match, he bowled in an ODI for the first time, and with his 17th delivery, took his first ODI wicket, the victim being the Indian captain Rahul Dravid. Shah toured Sri Lanka with England in late 2007, and then played in the ODI series against New Zealand in early 2008. While he had a disappointing ODI series, he top-scored with 96 in the first warm-up match to enhance his claims to the Test squad.
In July 2008 he helped Middlesex win the Twenty20 Cup with a match winning innings in the final with 75 runs scored off just 35 balls, the highlight of which was three successive sixes over mid-wicket off Kent off-spinner James Tredwell.
After the retirement of captain Michael Vaughan during summer 2008, Shah had a chance to claim a place on the tour to the West Indies. Although Ian Bell played the first Test at 3, he was dropped and replaced by Shah for the remainder of the Test series. Shah only managed one half-century, although he did reach 13,000 first class runs during the third Test, and was not chosen for the summer Tests against West Indian cricket team in England in 2009 and Australia.
He had a poor ODI series against Australia in 2009, failing to record a score of higher than 44 in all seven matches. Going into the 2009 ICC Champions Trophy, he was under severe pressure for his place, but scored another 44 in the opening match against Sri-Lanka, before a match-winning 98 in the second group game against hosts South Africa. This came too late though, as Shah was not included in any of England's squads for the tour to South Africa. Despite still having a central contract and later being included in the England Performance Squad for the 2010 home series, he was not included in any of the final squads and did not represent England during 2010.
Middlesex announced on 31 August 2010 that they will not be renewing Shah's contract at the end of the 2010 season.
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