Dimitri Mascarenhas

Dimitri Mascarenhas
Personal information
Full name	Adrian Dimitri Mascarenhas
Born	30 October 1977 (age 47); Chiswick, London, England
Nickname	Dimi
Height	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Batting	Right-handed
Bowling	Right-arm medium-fast
Role	All-rounder
International information
National side	England (2007–2009);
ODI debut (cap 203)	1 July 2007 v West Indies
Last ODI	17 September 2009 v Australia
ODI shirt no.	32
T20I debut (cap 25)	28 June 2007 v West Indies
Last T20I	14 June 2009 v India
Domestic team information
1996	Dorset
1996–2013	Hampshire (squad no. 17)
2008–2010	Rajasthan Royals (squad no. 32)
2008/09–2011/12	Otago (squad no. 17)
2012–2013	Kings XI Punjab (squad no. 17)
2012/13	Wellington
2012/13	Melbourne Stars
2013	Rangpur Riders
2013/14	Hobart Hurricanes
Career statistics
	Source: CricketArchive, 31 March 2024

Adrian Dimitri Mascarenhas (born 30 October 1977) is an English former international cricketer. A right-handed batsman and right-arm medium-fast bowler, he played internationally for the English cricket team and domestically for Hampshire County Cricket Club. He holds the record for most runs in an over in a One Day International for England, with 30, scored off Yuvraj Singh of India on 5 September 2007. He was the bowling coach for both Otago and the New Zealand national cricket team^[1] before resigning after the 2016 summer for family reasons.^[2]

Early life

Mascarenhas was born in London to Malik Mascarenhas and his wife, Pauline (née de Croos), both from the Bharatha community of Sri Lanka.^[3] He grew up in Perth, Western Australia and attended school at Trinity College, Perth. In 1996 Mascarenhas returned to England to pursue a professional cricket career after having played junior cricket in Australia, captaining Western Australia at Under-17 and Under-19 state level competition.

Domestic career

Returning to England, Mascarenhas played a single Minor Counties Championship fixture for Dorset against Cornwall, taking 7/64 in his only match for the county.^[4] During the same season he joined Hampshire, where he continued in excellent form, with 6–88 on debut (the best figures for a Hampshire debutant since Teddy Wynyard made 6–63 in August 1899). He then proceeded to make the first Rose Bowl century against Worcestershire in 2001. In 2004, he was the first player to record a hat-trick in Twenty20 cricket, claiming the wickets of Mark Davis, Mushtaq Ahmed and Jason Lewry of Sussex. He was part of the Hampshire team that won the C&G Trophy in 2005 and to finish runners-up in the Frizzell County Championship. In 2006, it was announced that Mascarenhas would receive a benefit year during the 2007 season as a reward for his excellent all round play for the county.

Following Shane Warne's retirement at the end of the 2007 season, Mascarenhas was made club captain for the 2008 County Championship season. During the 2009 County Championship Mascarenhas missed the first matches of the season while playing in the IPL with the Rajasthan Royals. On his return he led Hampshire to the final of the 2009 Friends Provident Trophy at Lord's, where Hampshire beat local rivals Sussex by 6 wickets.

Prior to the 2010 County Championship, Mascarenhas played for the Rajasthan Royals in the IPL, during which he picked up an ankle injury. Still injured for the first part of the 2010 English county season, Mascarenhas returned for Hampshire in the Friends Provident t20 against Kent, but during the match the injury flared up once more, therefore ruling him out for the rest of the season.^[5]

During the 2013 season he announced, aged 35, that he would be retiring from county cricket at the conclusion of the campaign, bowing out after 18 seasons with Hampshire. In total, he had scored more than 12,000 runs in all formats and taken nearly 900 wickets.

Mascarenhas played in New Zealand for Otago between 2008–09 and 2011–12 and for Wellington in 2012–13. In the Australian Big Bash League he played for Melbourne Stars in 2012–13 and Hobart Hurricanes in 2013–14.

In 2008, Mascarenhas signed for the Rajasthan Royals of the Indian Premier League. Following the England and Wales Cricket Board decision to not allow centrally-contracted England players to play in the tournament, Mascarenhas was the only English representative in the tournament's inaugural year. He returned for the following season, playing five matches and taking six wickets, and in 2010 when he took four wickets in two matches. Following an ankle injury Mascarenhas was forced to return home from the tournament.^[6]

Mascarenhas was bought by the Kings XI Punjab franchisee during the auction conducted in January 2011 but had to be replaced by David Miller after struggling to recover from an Achilles tendon injury.^[7] He was one of the guest commentators for ITV during the season. He played for the side in both 2012 and 2013.

International career

In September 2006, Hampshire's Australian county captain Shane Warne publicly highlighted Mascarenhas' tremendous ability and issued a call for him to be rewarded with selection for the England One Day International (ODI) team. On 13 September 2006 he wrote in The Times: "It amazes me that England have never given him a chance in the one-day side. He is the best finisher with the bat in all situations in the country and his bowling is clever and accurate".^[8]

He subsequently made his ODI debut on 1 July 2007 at Lord's against the West Indies, scoring 2 runs and completing 4 overs for 18 runs.^[9] On 5 September 2007, in an ODI against India, he hit consecutive sixes off the final five balls of England's innings, which were bowled by Yuvraj Singh. On 8 September 2007 he took 3/23 off 10 overs as England won the one-day series 4–3, on the same day he was also called up to England's ICC World Twenty20 squad as a replacement for Ryan Sidebottom.^[10] During England's one day series in New Zealand, he hit 4 consecutive sixes against New Zealand in a Twenty20 match.^[when?]

He played a total of 20 ODIs and 14 T20Is for England, scoring a total of 368 runs and taking 25 wickets across both formats.^[9]

Geoff Miller – Twitter outburst

In 2010, Mascarenhas vented his frustration at the chairman of the England selectors, Geoff Miller, claiming to have been ignored by him at a game.^[11] He tweeted, calling Geoff Miller a 'knob' and other derogatory terms. He also pointed out that his teammate James Adams hit 194 runs in a match between Lancashire and Hampshire when Miller came to watch and Adams was not considered for the T20s.^[11]

Following the Twitter outburst, Mascarenhas was banned for 14 days at the start of the 2011 season. Mascarenhas apologised unreservedly for his actions. He was fined £1000 by Hampshire and £500 by the ECB. The panel considered this to be a serious breach of the regulations, particularly given his status as a senior cricketer and club captain.^[12] Mascarenhas also stated that he tweeted this after a night out and his actions were stupid and irresponsible and that he regretted any offence it may have caused^[12] and that his tweet didn't reflect his true views on Miller.^[13]

Coaching

He has completed an ECB level-three coaching qualification and held player-coach roles with Hampshire, Rajasthan Royals and Hobart Hurricanes. In June 2015 Mascarenhas was appointed as New Zealand's full-time bowling coach having been head coach of New Zealand domestic side Otago since 2014.^[1] He resigned as New Zealand coach in 2016, citing personal reasons.^[2]

He was appointed by Middlesex as their specialist head bowling coach for the 2019 and 2020 Vitality t20 Blast competitions.