Owais Shah says he is nearing his peak as a batsman following his recall to the England squad for the first Test against West Indies at Lord’s. After hitting 88 on his debut at Mumbai last March he was sent back to county cricket where his weight of runs – and a change of national coach – has brought him a second chance.”It has been frustrating but you have got to realise that the selectors are trying to do the best for Team England,” he told the Press Association. “I am somewhere near my peak as a batsman. In the last three or four years I have scored reasonably heavily in county cricket in both forms of the game and I like to be looked upon as a reliable batsman in the Middlesex line-up.”That’s something I strive to achieve and is my aim. That is something every top batsman at each county strives to do. I am just starting my Test career right now and who knows what will happen.”Shah is primarily in the squad as cover for Kevin Pietersen, but could also find a place in the side if England opt for seven batsmen. But whenever his next chance comes, Shah knows what to expect and doesn’t want to over complicate the situation.”I am 28 now. It would be wonderful if I could another Test and try to make myself into a regular Test player, whether I do or not time will tell, ” he said. “It is simple – I have just got to get out there and bat, face the ball, play tight and score runs.”Simple as that regardless of what shirt I am wearing Test cricket is still the same game, you just have one extra day. I’ve just got to back myself to get some runs. I don’t see it as a pressure situation. I just try to play every game is if it is my last and do my best whether I am playing for England, Middlesex or my club Ealing.”

Tim Nielsen has ruled out tinkering with Shaun Tait’s action despite the bowler being forced to have surgery on his right elbow on Tuesday. However, Nielsen conceded his biggest challenge in taking over as Australia’s coach would be to keep his players healthy during an action-packed 18 months.Speaking at his first official engagement since replacing John Buchanan, the straight-talking Nielsen offered no Buchanan-esque cryptic responses and summarised his vision for a fit, determined squad with strong leadership from the senior players. He was brief and to the point, which seemed entirely appropriate for a man guiding his side through more than 20 Tests in 2008.”Without a doubt in professional sport that is the biggest challenge – to play at the highest level all the time, at great intensity,” Nielsen said. “Technically what [Tait] does so well is bowl fast. We don’t want to change that – we’ve just got to try and work with him to make sure he does minimise his injury risk.”Tait’s latest setback has given him a 50-50 chance of playing in the Twenty20 World Championship in September. He has already had shoulder surgery that kept him out of the Super Series in 2005, a back injury last April that stopped him touring Bangladesh, and a hamstring complaint in December, which delayed his ODI debut.Nielsen said reworking Tait’s delivery style would be unlikely to help the bowler or the team. “It’s just the volume of work that these young blokes need to adjust to,” he said. Nielsen’s “young blokes” will play a significant role in Australia’s attack in 2007-08. Tait, Ben Hilfenhaus, Mitchell Johnson, Cullen Bailey and Dan Cullen are all contracted by Cricket Australia but none has had an extended run in the team.For some, that could change as of the Twenty20 World Championship in South Africa, although Nielsen expects few deviations from the group that won the World Cup. “There’s young guys like Tait and Johnson who haven’t played a lot of one-day cricket,” Nielsen said. “And even Michael Clarke got opportunities batting at No. 4, which means that although he’s been around for a while he’s now got a new role. So it’s a bit of a new-look side anyway – I don’t think they’ll need to make drastic changes.”There are guaranteed to be at least three positions on offer when the Test season starts in November, after Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and Justin Langer retired together. Fresh faces are lining up for the opening and fast-bowling vacancies but Nielsen wants the spin responsibilities in more experienced hands.”[Bailey and Cullen] probably need a bit more time to develop and that’s where we hope [Stuart] MacGill can play a massive role for us,” Nielsen said. “He can play for however long he wants and fill those shoes until the young fellows develop enough.”Nielsen was speaking at the Melbourne launch of Cricket Australia’s ticketing program for 2007-08, which will again feature a priority buying period for Australian Cricket Family (ACF) members. James Sutherland, CA’s chief executive, said he was not expecting similar problems to last year, when the demand for Ashes seats was so intense that many ACF members missed out.”Being part of the Australian Cricket Family is no absolute guarantee of getting tickets but what it does is it puts you in that priority window when tickets first go on sale to get first crack at it,” he said. Sutherland believes that with a record 50 days of international cricket in 2007-08, most fans are unlikely to be disappointed.Sri Lanka and India will tour Australia for Test and ODI series next season, while New Zealand will also make a brief visit for a limited-overs contest. Fans have until June 24 to register as an ACF member on the CA website and they can buy tickets from July 2. Remaining seats will then go on sale to the general public from August 1.

Division One

Only 24 overs were possible at The Rose Bowl, but it proved sufficient for Hampshire’s bowlers who reduced Sussex to 64 for 6. James Bruce was the catalyst with 4 for 33, removing Chris Nash for a duck and trapping Murray Goodwin in front for 19. Sussex captain Chris Adams was unimpressed that his side had to bat under floodlights. “Although the light does improve once the floodlights are turned on, it is artificial light. I don’t think floodlights have a place in four-day cricket,” he said.Surrey moved to 164 for 2 against Worcestershire on a reduced first day at Guildford. Jon Batty and Scott Newman got Surrey off to a brisk start with an opening stand of 81 before another Batty, Worcestershire’s Gareth, bowled Newman for 32. Shortly afterwards, Batty dismissed his namesake Jon for 45 leaving Surrey on 104 for 2. But Mark Ramprakash and Mark Butcher steadied Surrey’s innings with an unbeaten third-wicket stand of 60, before rain curtailed the day’s play.A steadying stand of 69 between Joe Denly and James Tredwell rescued Kent on their first day against leaders Yorkshire at Scarborough. Click here for John Ward’s bulletin.

Division Two

Somerset slipped to 180 for 5 on the opening drizzly day against Derbyshire at Derby, as their powerful top-order struggled against Ant Botha’s slow left-arm. That they reached such lofty heights owed much to Neil Edwards’ fighting 94 which contained 16 fours and came from 121 balls. However, the next highest scorer was Justin Langer with 22, closely followed by 20 extras, as Somerset failed to put any length partnerships together. But shortly before the rain fell, and six short of a hundred, Edwards edged Botha behind to leave Derbyshire in command after the first, shortened day.There was no play at Abergavenny between Glamorgan and Leicestershire due to rain.Bristol also succumbed to the drizzle, preventing Gloucestershire’s match against Leicestershire from starting.

Kent chairman Carl Openshaw has written to the four counties who rejected the ECB’s proposal to award Kent an extra five points for their abandoned match at New Road, asking them to reconsider their decision in light of the exceptional circumstances.Durham, Lancashire, Warwickshire and Yorkshire refused to support the proposal to award Kent five additional points. But Openshaw picks out a series of arguments in Kent’s favour and highlights that they have been the innocent party after Worcestershire’s decision to stage the match at New Road so soon after the flooding.Worcestershire have since admitted it was a misguided decision and originally the ECB said the game would be replayed. However, after further matches were badly hit by the weather that decision was overturned, although Openshaw asks the county chairman to consider the different circumstances.”It is important to recognise that the failure to start and the subsequent abandonment of the match [at New Road] had nothing to do with prevailing weather conditions,” he wrote. “In contrast with the Roses match played over the same period, the weather had been relatively fine in Worcester in the days leading up to the match.”Whereas almost all league matches in the Manchester area that weekend were cancelled because of bad weather, local league games in the Worcester area proceeded uninterrupted.”There is surely no comparison between matches which, as happens in most seasons, are affected by heavy rain shortly before and during the game and the unprecedented situation of a ground under 12 feet of water 10 days before the scheduled start of a Championship match.”

Adam Gilchrist has indicated he might be interested in joining the Indian Cricket League when he eventually retires from international cricket. Gilchrist is still planning to play for Australia “for a while yet”, but this week he was forthright in his support for the ICL concept.”It’s quite a good thing for guys like me who are at the back end of their careers,” he said at the Captains’ Breakfast on the eve of the ICC World Twenty20. “I’m ten years older than guys like Graeme [Smith], and about eight years older than Daniel [Vettori], so it’s a great opportunity.”He also felt there was nothing wrong with giving players more options outside the traditional ICC-sanctioned events. “I think the ICC does have a monopoly on the game, and it’s nice for the players to have more opportunities and to have more control of their futures,” he told the South Africa-based .Brian Lara, who has already signed up for the ICL, echoed Gilchrist’s views on the league. “I think there’s room for a lot of players in the market and I’ll be there to support them,” he said at the ICC Awards function in Johannesburg. “The most important thing is that their [ICL] motives are very clean and clear – they want to improve cricket and the standards of professional cricket in India, and that’s good enough for me.”

Tom Moody, the former coach of the Sri Lankan team, has settled into the job coaching Western Australia, and at least for the moment, has put aspirations of coaching a national team on hold.”I was in a very fortunate position and it was flattering to get the kind of opportunities that I was presented with,” he said. “But at the end of the day I was looking for a balance in my life really and I have got two young children reaching an age where dad needs to be around a bit more and I was wanting to fulfill that as a father while pursuing my professional career as a coach.”The opportunity came up in Western Australia, which is my hometown and which was too good to miss because it allowed me to work at a professional level with cricketers and hopefully produce some international cricketers and also it helped me get the balance that I wanted personally.”Moody is in India at the moment, with the Western Australia team scheduled to play practice matches in Bangalore and Chennai. Having worked in the background while coaching international sides and leaving the limelight to the players, Moody said the challenges in coaching a state side were very different.”It is very different because you have an in-season and an out-season while in international cricket, you are virtually playing the whole year,” he said. “The whole preparation is very different, in domestic cricket you are gearing up for a six-month season while in international cricket you prepare for the road full-time, that is an adjustment I had to make as a coach. It is a good opportunity for me to work in that environment and challenge myself.”When asked about the offer to coach the Indian team, Moody downplayed the matter. “It did not matter which international side came to me,” he said. “When I sat down and looked what to do from my personal point of view, I was looking at that balance which I need at this stage of my life.”But in five years time that might be completely different but certainly in the foreseeable future, I feel very lucky to work at a professional level with the Western Warriors. At the moment I am very happy where I am.”With several Australian stars retiring last season and others potentially following in the next couple of years, Moody was hopeful some young cricketers from Western Australia would stake strong claims for themselves. “We have got a few players who will knock on the international door in the next 24 months,” he said.”Luke Pomersbach is one of them, left-hand batsman, Shaun Marsh, another left-hand batsman … Brett Dorey has played some international cricket and Marcus North has played some representative games like being part of the Prime Minister’s XI. North is a highly respected leader and batsman and we have got a number of guys who can make it to the big league and that is an exciting thing for me to be able to work with these players and help them make that next step.”Speaking just as the ICC World Twenty20 was about to get under way, Moody was asked several questions about the new format, but gave little away. “Twenty20 is a terrific format and it certainly puts all our cricketers under immense pressure in a shortened game and there is no hiding in Twenty20 cricket on the field,” he said.”And you need to execute your skills at a very high level. Obviously it is terrific entertainment for the public and it seems to capture the whole audience ranging from the young to old and it has been a huge success and I am sure this tournament in South Africa will be a great success.”