Mascarenhas was born in Chiswick in London to Malik Mascarenhas and his wife,Pauline (née de Croos),both from the Bharatha community of Negombo in Sri Lanka.[4] His father played cricket in his youth for St. Mary's College in Negombo.[4] They emigrated to England in the mid-1970s.[5] As a child,his parents emigrated again,this time to Melbourne in Australia.[5] He initially grew up there,playing cricket at under-12 level for Ringwood,before the family relocated to Perth.[5] His father ran a chain of successful fast-food restaurants in Perth,[6] affording him the opportunity to be privately educated at Trinity College.[6] At Trinity,Simon Katich,who was two years his senior,attempted unsuccessfully to get Mascarenhas in the college cricket team at the age of 14,having been impressed by him.[6] In Perth,he played club cricket for Melville Cricket Club.[4] He captainedWestern Australia at both under 17 and 19 levels,with Mascarenhas fostering ambitions to play for Australia.[7] During the 1995–96 season,the Hampshire batsman Paul Terry joined Melville as their overseas player. He was instrumental in finding Mascarenhas and his Melville teammate,Chris Rogers,club opportunties in England in 1996.[8]
Cricket career
Early years
Coming to England,Mascarenhas joined Bournemouth Cricket Club and helped them to win the 1996 Southern Cricket League.[7][9] He played minor counties cricket for Dorset in 1996,making a single appearance against Cornwall in the Minor Counties Championship;[10] he took bowling figures of 7 for 64 in Cornwall's first innings.[11] He began playing for the Hampshire Second XI during the season,and made his senior debut,aged 18,[12] against Middlesex in a List A one-day match in the 1996 Axa Equity &Law League at the start of September.[13] Two-days after his one-day debut,Mascarenhas made his first-class debut against Glamorgan at Southampton in the County Championship;[14] he took 6 for 88 in Glamorgan's first innings,the best figures by a Hampshire debutant since Charlie Llewellyn's 8 for 132 in 1899.[15] He followed this up with a second Championship appearance against Kent,claiming 16 wickets in his first two matches.[16] Mascarenhas was offered a two-year contract by Hampshire at the end of the season.[6][17] During the 1997 season,he was afflicted with a back injury in 1997 that limited him to six first-class and one-day appearances apiece.[6][14][13]
Mascarenhas was overlooked for the first County Championship match of the 1998 season,but thereafter played in all of Hampshire's matches in both first-class and one-day cricket that season.[7] Playing in 17 first-class matches,he took 30 wickets at an average of 33.33,[18] and with the bat he scored 645 runs at an average of 28.04,making six half centuries.[19] his 63 runs against Leicestershire in May were crucial to helping Hampshire avoid an innings defeat,having shared in a partnership of 114 runs with Adrian Aymes earlier in the match.[20] He made 26 appearances in one-day cricket,taking 22 wickets at an average of 19.86;[21] with the bat,he scored 560 runs at an average of exactly 28,making five half centuries.[22] In the semi-final of the NatWest Trophy against Lancashire he demonstrated his all-round credentials,with Mascarenhas being adjudged man-of-the-match for his figures of 3 for 28 and half century (73 runs) with the bat;despite his efforts,Hampshire lost the match.[7] He was awarded his county cap in August,[23] and was voted Hampshire's player of the year in November.[24]
Midway through the 1999 season,Mascarenhas' back problems arose again,keeping him out of the team for parts of June and August.[25][26] Across the season he made 14 first-class appearances,scoring 465 runs at an average of 28.83;[19] he struggled with the ball,taking 17 wickets at a high average of 51.05.[18] In one-day cricket,he made 18 appearances,scoring 319 runs at an average of 21.26,making three half centuries.[22] In contrast to his form with the ball in first-class cricket,Mascarenhas took 21 wickets in one-day cricket,averaging 26.42 runs per wicket.[21]
Maiden century
Mascarenhas scored his maiden first-class century during the 2000 County Championship,making 100 runs from 171 balls against Derbyshire,having added 187 runs for the sixth wicket with Derek Kenway.[27] In sixteen first-class matches in 2000,he scored 473 runs at an average of 20.56.[19] With the ball,he took 28 wickets at an average of 28.42.[18] In one-day cricket in 2000,his career-best figures of 4 for 25 against Middlesex guided Hampshire to the semi-final of the NatWest Trophy.[28] In 24 one-day matches,he took 38 wickets at an average of 21.18;[21] he ended the season as Hampshire's second highest wicket-taker in one-day cricket in 2000,one wicket behind Shane Warne.[29] Following the 2000 season,Mascarenhas underwent surgery in January 2001 for an ankle injury.[30] For the 2001 season,Hampshire moved from the County Ground in Southampton to their new home at the Rose Bowl.[31] He scored the first century to be made there when he made 104 runs against Worcestershire in the 2001 County Championship.[7] In 15 first-class appearances in 2001,he scored 447 runs at an average of 24.83.[19] With the ball,he claimed career-best figures of 6 for 60 against Derbyshire in July,securing a one wicket victory for Hampshire.[32] Overall,he took 40 wickets at an average of 25.37,taking five or more wickets in an innings twice.[18] In 20 one-day matches,he took 24 wickets at an average of 25.66,[18] alongside scoring 236 runs with one fifty.[21] Mascarenhas had bowled with a heel spur,that was operated on after the season. He recuperated in Perth,where he played Grade Cricket in the winter.[33]
Mascarenhas made sixteen first-class appearances in 2002.[14] In these,he took 37 wickets at an average of 30.83,taking five wickets in an innings once against Yorkshire in the County Championship in May.[19] With the bat,he scored 574 runs at an average of 23.91,[19] with a top-score of 94 runs against Surrey.[34] He played in 20 one-day matches in 2002,taking 32 wickets at an average of 19.76;[22] he took his first five wicket haul in one-day cricket in a 46 runs victory against Gloucestershire in the Norwich Union League,having earlier scored an unbeaten 38 runs from 21 balls in Hampshire's innings.[35] He ended the season as Hampshire's leading one-day wicket-taker.[36] In 2003,Mascarenhas made 17 first-class appearances.[14] He scored 600 runs,his most in a season,at an average of exactly 25.[19] He made an unbeaten century against Glamorgan in the County Championship in April.[37] Later in the season,he made 92 runs against Durham,[38] sharing in a partnership of 123 runs for the eighth wicket with Shaun Udal.[39] He took 40 wickets at an average of 32.17,[18] with season best figures of 6 for 55 against Northamptonshire,in a spell described as "accurate".[40] Nationally,he was the joint leading one-day wicket-taker with Graham Napier (39 wickets).[41] In June,he featured in Hampshire's first-ever Twenty20 match,played against Sussex at Southampton in the Twenty20 Cup,with Mascarenhas playing five matches in the tournaments inaugural running.[42]
Mascarenhas made 16 first-class appearances in 2004,scoring 477 runs at an average of 21.68;[19] his only century that season,a score of 104 runs,came against Durham in the County Championship.[43] He passed 50 wickets in a season for the first time,[43] taking 56 at an average of 18.67;[18] he took five wickets in an innings on four occasions,with career best figures of 6 for 25 against Derbyshire.[44] He ended the season as Hampshire's leading first-class wicket-taker.[45] In one-day cricket,he took 12 wickets from 15 appearances,[21] but had more impact with the bat. He scored 413 runs at an average of 37.54,making four half centuries.[22] 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 finished with figures of 5 for 14 from 3.5 overs,including two maidens.[46] He achieved his highest batting average in first-class cricket during the 2005 season,with an average of 49.09 and an aggregrate of 540 runs from 11 matches;[19] he made two centuries against Warwickshire (102 not out) and Nottinghamshire (103 not out). In the former,he shared in a seventh wicket partnership of 324 runs with Shane Watson,[47] whilst in the latter he helped Hampshire to victory by an innings and 188 runs,securing second place in the 2005 County Championship.[48] He took 34 first-class wickets at an average of 23.55 during the season,taking two five wicket hauls.[18] He played for Hampshire in their 2005 Cheltenham &Gloucester Trophy winning side that defeated Warwickshire in the final at Lord's.[7] Playing in fourteen one-day matches in 2005,he scored 254 runs and took 14 wickets.[19][18] During the season,a back injury sustained in a Championship match in May kept him out of action throughout June.[49]
Playing in 16 first-class matches in 2006,he scored 474 runs at an average of 19.75;[19] his only century in 2006 came against Kent,a score of 131 runs,the highest of his career.[50] With the ball,he took 43 wickets at an average of 24.97;[18] against Yorkshire in July,he took figures of 6 for 65.[51] In a County Championship match against Warwickshire in August,he was reprimanded by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) after breaching their disciplinary code in relation to "abuse of the ground,equipment or fixtures and fittings".[52] He made 16 one-day appearances during the season,scoring 336 runs at an average of 30.54,[22] whilst taking 11 wickets.[21] In eight appearances in the 2006 Twenty20 Cup,he scored 127 runs with a highest score of 42 not out,[53] alongside taking 9 wickets,with a match-winning performance of 4 for 23 against Sussex.[54] Hampshire's captain Warne publicly highlighted Mascarenhas' abilities and issued a call for him to be rewarded with selection for the EnglandOne 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".[55] Following the end of the season,it was announced that Mascarenhas would receive a benefit year in 2007.[56]
In the 2007 County Championship,Mascarenhas made ten appearances,scoring 489 runs at an average of 34.92 and took 15 wickets at an average of 32.06.[19][18] In one-day cricket,he played an important role in the semi-final 2007 Friends Provident Trophy,sharing in a partnership of 54 runs for the seventh wicket with Nic Pothas to guide Hampshire to victory against Warwickshire.[57] Following the semi-final in June,Mascarenhas was selected in England's squad for their One Day International (ODI) and Twenty20 International (T20I) series against the West Indies.[58] Mascarenhas credited Warne's influence for his call-up.[59] He had been appointed Hampshire's Twenty20 captain in 2007,[58] but his international selection limited him to two appearances.[42]
Mascarenhas subsequently made his ODI debut against the West Indies at Lord's on 1 July 2007,and played in all three ODIs in the series.[60] Following the ODI matches,he played in the two T20I matches at The Oval.[61] He later played in the ODI series against India in August–September,playing in four of the seven ODIs in the series.[60] In the 6th ODI at The Oval,he hit consecutive sixes off the final five balls of England's innings,bowled by Yuvraj Singh.[62][63] In the 7th ODI,he took 3 for 23 off 10 overs to help England to a 4–3 one-day series victory;[64] the cricket writer Martin Williamson described his bowling as "impossible to get away".[64] On the same day,he was called-up to England's squad for the 2007 World Twenty20 in South Africa as a replacement for the injured Ryan Sidebottom.[65] He played in all five of England's matches in the tournament,[61] notably taking 3 for 18 against in England's group stage victory over Zimbabwe.[66] In January 2008,Mascarenhas was selected in England's ODI and T20I squads for their winter tour of New Zealand.[67] He played in both T20I matches that opened the series,[61] with his all-round performance of 31 runs from 14 balls,including four consecutive sixes from the bowling of Jeetan Patel,[68] and bowling figures of 2 for 19 from 4 overs helping England to victory by 32 runs in the first T20I and earning him man-of-the-match.[69] He did not feature in the first two ODIs,but played in the final three matches of the series.[60]
Twenty20 journeyman
When New Zealandtoured England in the summer of 2008,playing in one ODI and T20I each in the series.[60][61] Following Warne's retirement at the end of the 2007 season,Mascarenhas was made Hampshire captain for the 2008 season.[70] Early in the 2008 season,Mascarenhas signed for the Rajasthan Royals in the nascent Indian Premier League (IPL). Following an ECB decision to not allow centrally-contracted England players to play in the tournament,[71] He was the only English representative in the tournament's inaugural year.[72][73] As a result of his IPL commitment,he missed several matches for Hampshire.[71] He made fifteen first-class appearances for Hampshire in 2008,captaining them to third place in the County Championship.[70] His 673 runs that season was the aggregate of his career,[70] alongside which he took 41 wickets at an average of 23.82.[18] In one-day cricket,he led Hampshire to the runners-up position in the Pro40;[70] he achieved his highest one-day season batting average in 2008,averaging 46.16,having scored 277 runs from 13 matches.[22] He also took 15 one-day wickets in 2008.[21]
Following the 2008 season,he played limited-overs cricket in New Zealand for Otago.[74] He made ten appearances in the 2008–09 State Shield,scoring an unbeaten 75 against Auckland that saw him hit five consecutive sixes from Daryl Tuffey's bowling.[75] He made seven appearances in Otago's State Twenty20 winning campaign;[42] he would play for Otago in the 2009 Champions League Twenty20.[42] Mascarenhas was selected in England's squad for their winter tour of the West Indies. He played all five ODI matches in England's 3–2 series victory,[60] scoring 65 runs and taking 5 wickets at an average of 30.40.[76][77] He also played in the only T20I,played at Port of Spain.[61] He was included in England's fifteen-man squad for the 2009 World Twenty20,[78] with Macarenhas featuring in three matches in the tournament.[61] Later in the 2009 season,he played in England's final two ODIs against Australia,following an injury to Luke Wright.[79] He missed the start of the 2009 English season due to his IPL commitments with the Rajasthan Royals,with Pothas deputising as captain.[70] Returning to Hampshire,he made ten appearances in the 2009 County Championship,[14] making his final first-class century (108 runs) against Lancashire.[80] He led Hampshire to the final of the 2009 Friends Provident Trophy at Lord's,where they defeated Sussex by six wickets.[70] He played seven matches for Hampshire in the 2009 Twenty20 Cup,[42] leading them to the quarter-finals. He scored 153 runs in the competition,the highest aggregate of his career.[81]
Mascarenhas played for the Rajasthan Royals in the 2010 IPL,but injured his Achilles in his second match against Delhi Daredevils,forcing him to return home from the tournament.[82] The injury caused him to miss the beginning of the season and ruled him out of the 2010 World Twenty20,having been named in the initial 30-man squad.[83] He returned to action in June in the Friends Provident t20 against Kent,but bowled three overs before a recurrence of his injury forced him from the field.[84] He was ruled out of playing for the remainder of the season,with Dominic Cork and Pothas deputising in the captaincy.[70] In September 2010,Mascarenhas was sanctioned by the ECB and Hampshire after he posted an expletive laden Tweet about England chairman of selectors Geoff Miller,claiming to have been ignored by Miller at a match and expressing his frustration that his in-form teammate James Adams had not been considered for selection.[85][86] He was subsequently banned for 14 days at the start of the 2011 season and was fined £1,000 by Hampshire and £500 by the ECB.[87] Mascarenhas issued an apology to Miller,stating that the Tweet did not reflect his true views about him.[88]
Mascarenhas was bought by the Kings XI Punjab franchise during the IPL auction in January 2011,but had to be replaced by David Miller after struggling to recover from the Achilles injury sustained in 2010.[89] He returned to action in the Clydesdale Bank 40 in May 2011.[90] He made eight appearances in the 2011 County Championship,[14] notably taking the last five wicket haul of his career (6 for 62) against Durham.[91] He played both one-day and T20 cricket for Hampshire in 2011,taking 21 wickets at an average of 16.23 in the 2011 Twenty20 Cup.[92] For the majority of the 2011 season,he had been nursing a shoulder injury.[93] Following the season,he played for Otago in the 2011–12 HRV Cup,making eight appearances.[42] He opening the batting in some matches,[94] and across his eight matches he scored 124 runs.[95] However,he had less success with the ball,taking just three wickets.[96] He again missed the start of the English season in 2012 by playing in the IPL for Kings XI Punjab,making four appearances;[42] against Pune Warriors India,he took figures of 5 for 25 to help King's XI Punjab to victory by seven wickets.[97] During the 2012 English season,Mascarenhas captained Hampshire to the Twenty20 Cup title,[70] playing eleven matches in the competition.[42] During the course of the competition,he took 15 wickets at an average of 16.46.[92] He had nursed torn tendons in his shoulder during the latter part of Hampshire's T20 campaign.[98] He made just five first-class and six one-day appearances in 2012,[14][13] with the captaincy in the County Championship and one-day cricket passing to James Adams.[99]
Retirement
Following the conclusion of the 2012 season,Mascarenhas captained Hampshire in their Champions League Twenty20 qualifying defeat to Auckland at Centurion in South Africa.[42] In the aftermath of their defeat,he was critical of the pitch the match was played on,calling it "no good for 20-over cricket".[100] He spent the winter playing T20 franchise cricket for a number of teams. He played twice in New Zealand for Wellington in the 2012-13 HRV Cup,[42] before playing the same number of matches in Australia for the Melbourne Stars as a replacement for Lasith Malinga,who was on international duty.[101] He then played three matches for the newly formed Rangpur Riders in the 2012–13 Bangladesh Premier League,[102][42] before making a single appearance in the 2013 Indian Premier League for the Kings XI Punjab against Sunrisers Hyderabad.[42] Later remarking on his lone appearance,Mascarenhas opined that the reason behind this was that their coach Darren Lehmann "did not really rate me".[103]
During the 2013 English season,Mascarenhas made just one first-class appearance against Gloucestershire in the County Championship,[14] but was a regular in Hampshire's one-day and T20 teams.[70] He made eleven one-day appearances during the season,taking 13 wickets at an average of 24.61;[22] he notably claimed his second one-day five wicket haul when he took 5 for 42 in a defeat to Lancashire.[104] He captained Hampshire to their second successive finals day in the Twenty20 Cup,[105] with Hampshire losing to Surrey in the semi-final.[106] During the course of the competition,he made eleven appearances taking 12 wickets.[92] In July,Mascarenhas had announced his intention to retire from county cricket at the end of the 2013 season,having struggled with injuries for several years.[103][107] Despite retiring from county cricket,he intended to continue playing in global T20 competitions.[103] In September,he signed for the Hobart Hurricanes in a dual player and assistant coach role,joining as a "local" player courtesy of his Australian passport.[108][109] His participation in the 2013–14 Big Bash League was put in doubt in December,when he broke his jaw batting in a practice match;[109] he recovered and made four appearances in the competition,including in their final defeat to the Perth Scorchers at the WACA Ground.[110]
Playing style and statistics
An all-rounder,Mascarenhas began his career as a bowler who could also bat,but as his career progressed so his batting improved.[70] He was a right-handed hard-hitting batsman,[111] Warne compared his ability to strike a cricket ball to that of Australian all-rounder Ian Harvey.[112] He was useful at the end of an innings in one-day and T20 matches,being able to score quickly to accelerate the score.[6]
A right-arm medium-fast bowler,The Times remarked how Mascarenhas possessed the ability to use "smart and well-disguised alterations in his line and length",[113] with his teammate Shaun Udal describing his bowling as "accurate".[6] He credited playing alongside Warne with improving his bowling,making him think more about how he was going to dismiss a batsman and not just tie up an end.[7] He was not particularly fast,delivering the ball at around 75mph,[114] relying on swing to dismiss batsmen.[115] He was voted Hampshire's best-ever T20 player by their supporters in May 2022.[116] He excelled as a fleet-footed fielder with a wonderful throw.[56] Mascarenhas made 195 first-class appearances for Hampshire. He scored 6,495 runs at an average of 25.07,making eight centuries and 23 half centuries.[115]
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.[2] He resigned as New Zealand coach in 2016,citing personal reasons.[3]
He was appointed by Middlesex as their specialist head bowling coach for the 2019 and 2020 Vitality t20 Blast competitions.
Personal life
Mascarenhas married Nadine Taylor in Melbourne in February 2011,with Warne and Liz Hurley in attendance.[117] The couple have two sons,born in 2012 and 2014.[118] Mascarenhas was close friends with Warne. Following Warne's death in March 2022,he was one of the guest speakers at his state memorial service at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.[119]
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