Lee Carseldine, a 33-year-old lifeguard with a titanium disc in his spine, has played five matches in the Indian Premier League (IPL) this year. Moises Henriques, an Australian who was born on the island of Madeira, and Rob Quiney, his compatriot, have had four games each. Even someone called George Bailey — wasn’t he played by James Stewart in It’s a Wonderful Life? — has appeared once.

Yet, while the IPL has been a happy place for little-known Australians, Owais Shah returned to county cricket yesterday with little to show for three weeks in the tournament apart from some memories, a few new friends — and almost £100,000.

His disappointment at being a perpetual bench-warmer, albeit a well-paid one, as Delhi Daredevils rose to the top of the IPL table, will have been made worse by losing his place in the England Test side while he was away. A second-ball duck for Middlesex yesterday cannot have helped.

Shah has played 74 matches for England in various formats, made 75 runs when Middlesex won the Twenty20 Cup final last season and was the joint-eighth most expensive player in the second IPL auction in February. That all counted for naught as Delhi persisted with a winning team.

Each franchise can have ten overseas players in their squad, but may select only four a match. Delhi have used only five all season.

It means that some illustrious talents have been left as sedentary cheerleaders. Paul Collingwood, Shah’s England team-mate, who was bought for the same £185,000, returned for last week’s Test match against West Indies after two weeks without a game. Glenn McGrath, one of the most famous names in cricket and reportedly as reliable as ever in the nets, has not been able to get a match for Delhi. Nor have Farveez Maharoof, the Sri Lanka all-rounder, and Andrew McDonald, a Test debutant for Australia this year.

Dirk Nannes, the former Middlesex fast bowler, has played in all nine of Delhi’s games. Virender Sehwag, the captain, says that he is the fastest bowler he has faced and that is why Nannes plays while McGrath does not. “I will tell my grandchildren that I was responsible for keeping the greatest fast bowler of all time out of a playing XI,” Nannes said.

The decision to leave out the big names makes sense when you are winning, but it is costly. McGrath was bought by Delhi for about £230,000 and has already pocketed £150,000 for sitting out their first nine league games. Maharoof has earned about £95,000. Nor is it only Delhi spending money on players who do not play. About 20 overseas players have been available, but not yet got a game.

These include Mashrafe Mortaza, the Bangladesh fast bowler, who was the surprise beneficiary of a bidding war in the second auction. Kolkata Knight Riders signed him for about £400,000 a year, but the need to shore up their failing batting has meant that he has not played. Kolkata have used their cheaper overseas batsmen instead, such as Henriques and Morne van Wyk, a South Africa one-day opener, who is averaging 56 this year.

“My confidence definitely will get a boost in playing with big cricketers in the IPL," Mortaza said before the tournament, but all that has been boosted is his bank balance, by £285,000.

Tyron Henderson, Shah’s Middlesex team-mate, is another to spend his time twiddling thumbs and counting sums. Bidding between Deccan Chargers and Rajasthan Royals forced his auction price to £430,000, but he has played only one of Rajasthan’s 11 matches, earning £340,000. The least he and Shah can do is stand their Middlesex team-mates a round or two in the Lord’s Tavern this season.

Two sides of the coin