Owais Shah will be given the chance to really prove himself at England level after new captain Kevin Pietersen admitted that one of the country's brightest batting talents has been wasted.

Rain in Edinburgh prevented Shah from having a crack at the No3 position yesterday after Scotland were restricted to 156 for nine. And rain further south in Durham has already caused tomorrow's Twenty20 clash with South Africa to be called off.

Ticket-holders will have their money refunded. But the abandonment means Pietersen's team have lost their last chance to play a competitive Twenty20 game before November's £10million contest against the Stanford Super Stars in Antigua.

Weather permitting, Shah will be handed the No3 role throughout the NatWest 50-overs series which begins in Leeds on Friday.

Shah has batted no higher than No5 for England, and as low as No7, over the past 12 months, with previous skipper Paul Collingwood and coach Peter Moores believing he was the ideal man to "finish" the innings.

But the 29-year-old goes in much higher for Middlesex, and that's where Pietersen believes he can do most damage.

"The good player he is, I think Owais was wasted down at seven," said the new captain.

"He's a high-scoring, quickscoring batsman who plays cricket strokes to hit boundaries.

"I think 'Ace' is a very good cricketer. When he's played for us he's always done really well. He got a one-day hundred last year against India and has scored some really good runs for us this year and I'm going to give him the confidence to bat at No3."

Shah's move up the order means Pietersen will drop down a place. That should not prevent him from being a dominant force, though, and will also provide a little extra recovery time from the stresses of leadership if he has spent 50 overs in the field.

So far, most of the captain's one- day plans have been designed with 50-over cricket in mind and tomorrow's Twenty20 contest would have given him the opportunity to try some variations. Generally, though, Pietersen stresses it is the job of the front-line batsmen to score most of the runs whatever form of the game England are playing.

"It's a silly batting order," he agreed when it was pointed out that Stuart Broad was listed to go in at No10 yesterday. "It is brilliant to have that depth but the one thing that can harm us is that you leave the job to someone else. As batsmen we have to take responsibility."