Shah eyes one-day opening

Owais Shah set his sights on finally cementing a place in the England one-day side after his unbeaten half-century earned them a five-wicket Twenty20 win over West Indies at the Brit Oval.

England were struggling at 104 for five in pursuit of a target of 170, and required 55 from the final five overs.

But Shah kept his nerve and finished on 55 not out from 35 balls to help Paul Collingwood celebrate his first victory as one-day skipper.

Shah made his England one-day debut in 2001 but has played only 18 limited-overs internationals in the last six years.

He is now hoping to be included in the side for forthcoming trio of NatWest Series 50-over games with the Windies starting at Lord's on Sunday.

The Middlesex batsman said: "I have been wanting to play an innings for England for a while, especially in the one-day stuff. I am delighted.

"If I get the opportunity to go on from here, then great. I am just going to take it a game at a time and keep doing well if I can for England.

“If that means me cementing a spot, it couldn't be any more perfect. It would be great.

“The opportunity is there at the moment and you just have to take it. Whatever opportunity you get given, you just have to go out and try and grab it with both hands.

"That's my aim for the one-day series. I can't wait to play for England again and we will just have to see how the one-day series goes and take it from there."

Collingwood paid tribute to the efforts of Shah and Dimitri Mascarenhas, who shared an unbroken stand of 69 off 36 balls for the sixth wicket.

"It was a fantastic innings by Owais,” said Collingwood. “When you get a knock like that, it shows he has got finishing qualities, which is what you want in any side.

"He picked and chose the right balls, stayed calm, chose his shots well and it was very impressive under quite a lot of pressure in difficult conditions.

"It was getting darker and darker out there. Owais and Dimitri played a couple of great innings at the end."