Owais Shah signs two-year deal with Essex and targets England recall

The England batsman Owais Shah has signed a two-year contract with Essex. The 32-year-old was released by Middlesex last season. Shah said: "This is an exciting new start for me and a wonderful opportunity to show everyone at Essex what I'm capable of. I believe that I'm at my peak as a cricketer right now and still have an enormous amount to offer in all forms of the game. I had 16 very happy years at Middlesex, but it's all about Essex for me from now on." Shah, who has played six Tests for England and is currently playing for the Cape Cobras in South Africa, scored more than 20,000 runs for Middlesex. He made his Test debut against India in Mumbai in 2006. He said: "I'm still passionate about representing England again and believe that by playing my cricket in a great environment at Essex, I will have every chance of achieving that ambition." The Essex head coach, Paul Grayson, said: "We have been working on the deal with Owais for around a month now and we are delighted to have completed the signing. He is a high-quality batsman and will score some big runs for us. I put him in the same bracket as [Mark] Ramprakash and [Marcus] Trescothick, who are county players not currently representing England. "Owais had been at Middlesex for a long time and needed a new challenge. He has expressed his desire to get back into the England setup and we believe this is somewhere that he can fulfil this desire." Shah is due to return from South Africa in March, in time for pre-season work with his new county.