County Championship round-up: Shah 'upset' at brush-off by Middlesex

Middlesex may have signed the Australia batsman Chris Rogers and retained the services of England's Eoin Morgan yesterday but club stalwart Owais Shah has been left "deeply upset" after being released.

In a busy 24 hours at Lord's the county prised Rogers away from Derbyshire and fought off interest from rival teams to extend Morgan's stay by two years. But that left former England batsman Shah, who has been with the club for 17 years, the odd man out.

A statement released yesterday by his representatives was critical of Middlesex's handling of the situation. Agent John E Barnett said: "Owais was very surprised and hurt that he was not the first one to know the club were going to release him. If they don't want to sign him again, that's their entitlement but at least have the decency to speak to the player before alerting the media." Middlesex later published an apology to Shah on their website.

On a remarkable day at Bristol, the New Zealand swing bowler James Franklin took seven wickets for just 14 runs as Derbyshire were bowled out for 44 on a greenish pitch.

At one stage Gloucestershire had reduced the East Midlands side to 9 for 6 before Robin Peterson led a comeback of sorts, with his side's top score of 15. In reply Gloucestershire were out for 156 before Derbyshire reached 127 for 4.