Owais Alam Shah was born in Karachi, Pakistan in 1978 and raised in Middlesex from the age of nine. He came through the ranks of the esteemed Wycombe House Cricket Club, making a meteoric ascent into the County's 1st XI, debuting in limited-over cricket at sixteen.
A prodigiously gifted right-handed batsman who progressed through the England Under-19, 'A' and full limited-over teams. He made his Test debut in the Third Test at Mumbai in March 2006, scoring 88 in his first innings. The style has always been apparent, but he has began to come into his own now with a new found maturity. He scored 13.377 runs (at an average of 42.46) in 200 first-class matches for the County with 38 centuries and 159 catches. He joined Essex in 2011.
