OWAIS Shah is looking forward to being a Hampshire regular in this season’s T20 Blast.

The former England batsman played five games on a match-to-match deal last season, but is available for all of the forthcoming campaign - which begins against Essex at The Ageas Bowl tonight (7pm).

Shah, who top scored with an unbeaten 50 when Hampshire won last season’s corresponding fixture, said: “I’m committed for the full season.

“Last year the club had already signed Glenn Maxwell as a batter and you’re not going to play an extra batter for the sake of it, you need the right balance for the team, so I understood [why I only played five games].

“It was nice of Hampshire to ask me to be involved, then I had the offer to go the Caribbean [T20] so it worked really well.

“We had a decent campaign last year, we fell short in the semi-final to Lancashire - that’s life - but I’m looking forward to another campaign and hopefully we can make Finals Day again.”

Shah, who is in the global top ten of T20 run scorers with 5,096, ended his first-class career as an Essex player in September 2013.

Since then he has played in T20 competition for Hobart Hurricanes at the Big Bash as well as Jamaica and Hampshire. “I was really happy to be asked to be part of the T20 squad again,” said the 36 year-old, who has only signed for T20 cricket at this stage, but added: “I’m available for the one-dayers if Hampshire want me. But I don’t want to play four-day cricket, that’s finished for me now - T20’s my thing.”

Hampshire have named a 14-man squad for tonight’s opening game.

Jimmy Adams returns after missing the defeat to Yorkshire in the LV County Championship following the birth of his second son, Joshua.

Lewis McMamnus is in as cover for Adam Wheater (ankle), who has a fitness test this morning. Fidel Edwards will make his Ageas Bowl debut and Yasir Arafat will make his Hampshire debut. Director of cricket Giles White said: “We have new names every year but the core of the team that has reached the last five Finals Days remains.”

Essex topped the south division in last season’s NatWest T20 Blast before losing to the eventual winners, the Birmingham Bears, in the quarter-finals.

The have re-signed Australian fast bowler Shaun Tait and New Zealand batsman Jesse Ryder.

Hampshire return to LV County Championship action at home to Middlesex on Sunday.

Hampshire (from): Smith, Carberry, Shah, McManus, J Adams, Briggs, Ervine, Wood, Dawson, Wheater, Berg, Edwards, Vince, Yasir Arafat.