John Emburey, the coach of Middlesex, has accused the selectors of operating a “closed shop” policy in light of excluding Owais Shah

Cricinfo staff20-Sep-2005

“The fact that Owais Shah is not there [in the one-day squad] is criminal,” says John Emburey © Getty Images
John Emburey has attacked the England selectors for failing to include Owais Shah in either the Test or one-day squads to tour Pakistan in October. Emburey, Shah’s coach at Middlesex, has accused the selectors of operating a “closed shop” policy.Shah has enjoyed a superb season for Middlesex, scoring over 2000 runs in both four-day and one-day competitions. Despite his omission from the senior side’s squads, he was however included in the National Academy squad. But Emburey feels this is scant reward for a young player who has performed so well all season.”The fact that he’s not there [in the one-day squad] to me is criminal. He’s going to have to bat like Don Bradman to play any better than he has done this year.” Emburey told .Emburey feels Shah has been ostracised because “his face doesn’t fit.” He added: “I think it’s a closed shop to be honest. I think they’ve got their people they want to bring on and his face doesn’t fit, as simple as that.”Shah, 26, last played for England in the 2002-03 one-day series against Australia. A solid season in 2003 saw him rewarded with the captaincy of Middlesex – but he was relieved of the captaincy in June 2004 following a string a poor results. A highly gifted and stylish batsman, Shah is one of many young England players who initially found county cricket an easy affair, only to fall by the wayside in recent years with inconsistent performances. However, consistency is one aspect Shah has improved upon as his statistics this season clearly demonstrate.”I hope someone actually speaks to him and tells him why he isn’t going and doesn’t use his little knee injury as an excuse,” added Emburey. “I want someone to be honest with the bloke – either the selectors or the coach.”I can understand there are no vacancies in the Test side for him because the batting is fairly solid and they have kept a squad of players together which has performed very well, and I think that’s right.”But I think their one-day cricket has been very inconsistent and there is a need to bring someone in which can add something to the team and make them better.”

Chris Read’s ability with the gloves has never been questioned. But are lower-order runs more important than safely-held catches? © Getty Images
Shah isn’t the only player whose omission has raised eyebrows. Chris Read was, yet again, not chosen for either squad; Matt Prior from Sussex, a counterattacking and aggressive batsman, is Geraint Jones’ wicketkeeping back-up. And of course, it was Jones who initially replaced Read two winters ago; Read had kept beautifully all winter, but in averaging just 15 with the bat in 11 Tests, England decided they needed a more punchy lower-order batsman.”The keeping side of things is always under scrutiny, but the ability to score runs has maybe overtaken that. My personal opinion is it might well go in a cycle,” he told .”We’ve seen Adam Gilchrist, who turned the art of the keeper-batter on its head by averaging 50-plus. A lot of the nations have tried to emulate that, probably with limited success. Now that Gilchrist is within two-to-three years of retirement, it will be interesting to see what Australia have up their sleeve and how the other countries react to that.”