Adrian Dimitri Mascarenhas (born 30 October 1977) is an English former cricketer who played One Day International (ODI) and Twenty20 International (T20I) cricket for England, and county cricket for Hampshire. From a Bharatha Sri Lankan family, Mascarenhas was born in England in Chiswick, London. His family emigrated to Australia when he was a child, where he was educated at Trinity College, Perth. While playing club cricket, he came to the attention of English cricketer Paul Terry, who arranged for him to play cricket in England. After a single appearance in minor counties cricket for Dorset, Mascarenhas made his senior debut for Hampshire in 1996, aged 18; he would play for the county until 2013, making 195 first-class, 237 one-day and 74 Twenty20 (T20) appearances. He captained them between 2008 and 2013, leading the team to one-day success in 2009 and to a T20 title in 2012; in these formats he excelled as an attacking all-rounder. In 2008, he became the first English cricketer to play in the Indian Premier League; he would go on to play domestic T20 cricket for eight teams in five countries.
Having been overlooked in limited-overs cricket by England for several years, Mascarenhas made both his ODI and T20I debuts in 2007 against the West Indies. In that year, he established the record for the most runs in an over in an ODI for England, with 30, scored against Yuvraj Singh when playing against India. He played for England until 2009, participating in both the 2007 and 2009 World Twenty20 tournaments. Having failed to recover from injury, he retired following the 2013 English season, moving into coaching. Mascarenhas coached the New Zealand first-class team Otago in 2014, and in 2015 he was appointed New Zealand's bowling coach. After leaving that role in 2016, he was assistant coach of Essex in 2018 and Middlesex's T20 bowling coach in 2019 and 2020.
Early life Adrian Dimitri Mascarenhas was born in Chiswick, London, on 30 October 1977 to Malik Mascarenhas and his wife, Pauline (née de Croos), both from the Bharatha community of Negombo in Sri Lanka. His father played cricket in his youth for St. Mary's College in Negombo. They had emigrated to England in 1976, and when he was a child his parents emigrated again to Melbourne in Australia. There, he played cricket at under-12 level for Ringwood, before the family relocated to Perth. His father ran a chain of successful fast-food restaurants, affording Mascarenhas the opportunity to be privately educated at Trinity College, Perth. 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. Mascarenhas played club cricket for Melville. He captained Western Australia at both under-17 and -19 levels, and hoped to play for Australia. 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 opportunities in England in 1996.
Cricket career Early years In England, Mascarenhas joined Bournemouth and helped them win the 1996 Southern Cricket League. He played minor counties cricket for Dorset that year, making one appearance, against Cornwall in the Minor Counties Championship; he took bowling figures of 7 wickets (a metonymic term for dismissing a batsman) for 64 runs in Cornwall's first innings. He began playing for the Hampshire second team in the season, and made his first-team debut, aged 18, against Middlesex in a List A one-day match in the Axa Equity & Law League at the start of September. Two days after his debut in the one-day format, Mascarenhas made his first-class debut against Glamorgan at the County Ground in Southampton in the County Championship, taking 6 wickets for 88 runs in Glamorgan's first innings, the best bowling figures by a Hampshire debutant since Charlie Llewellyn's 8 for 132 in 1899. A second Championship appearance followed, against Kent, with Mascarenhas taking 16 wickets in his first two matches. He was offered a two-year contract by Hampshire at the end of the season. He suffered a back injury in the 1997 season, limiting him to six first-class and one-day appearances.
Mascarenhas was overlooked for the first County Championship match of the 1998 season, but thereafter played in all of Hampshire's first-class and one-day matches. In 17 first-class appearances, he took 30 wickets at a bowling average (the number of runs a bowler concedes per wicket taken) of 33.33, and scored 645 runs at a batting average (the total number of runs a player scores divided by the number of times they have been out) of 28.04, making six half-centuries. His 63 runs in the second innings against Leicestershire in May helped Hampshire avoid an innings defeat, having shared in a partnership of 114 runs with Adrian Aymes for the fifth wicket in their first innings. He made 26 appearances in one-day cricket, taking 22 wickets at 19.86; he also scored 560 runs at an average of 28, making five half-centuries. In the semi-final of the NatWest Trophy against Lancashire he demonstrated his all-round abilities, being adjudged man of the match for his 73 runs and 3 wickets for 28; despite his efforts, Hampshire lost the match. He was awarded his county cap in August, and voted Hampshire's Player of the Year in November.
Mascarenhas's back problems arose again midway through the 1999 season, keeping him out of the team for parts of June and August. Across the season he made 14 first-class appearances, scoring 465 runs at 28.83; he struggled with his bowling, taking 17 wickets at a high average of 51.05. In one-day cricket, he scored 319 runs from 18 appearances, making three half-centuries. In contrast to his first-class form, Mascarenhas took 21 wickets in one-day cricket, averaging 26.42 runs per wicket.
Established all-rounder
Mascarenhas made his first century in first-class cricket in the 2000 County Championship, scoring 100 runs from 171 balls against Derbyshire. He scored 473 runs in 16 first-class matches in 2000, and took 28 wickets at 28.42. In one-day cricket, his figures of 4 for 25 against Middlesex guided Hampshire to the semi-final of the NatWest Trophy, and from 24 one-day matches he averaged 21.18 for his 38 wickets; he was second in Hampshire's one-day bowling aggregate, one behind Shane Warne. Prior to the start of 2001 season, he underwent surgery for an ankle injury. In that season, Hampshire moved from the County Ground in Southampton to their newly constructed home at the Rose Bowl in West End. Mascarenhas scored the first ever century at the ground against Worcestershire in the 2001 County Championship. He scored 447 runs from 15 first-class appearances in 2001. He also took 40 wickets at 25.37, with two five-wicket hauls; against Derbyshire in July he claimed 6 for 60, securing a one-wicket victory for Hampshire. In 20 one-day matches, he claimed 24 wickets at 25.66, and scored 236 runs, including one fifty. He bowled throughout the season with a heel spur, which was operated on after the season. He recuperated in Perth in the winter and played for Melville in grade cricket, the top level of club cricket in Western Australia.
Mascarenhas took 37 wickets at 30.83 from 16 first-class appearances in 2002, taking five wickets against Yorkshire in a County Championship match in May. He also scored 574 runs, with a top score of 94 runs against Surrey. He played in 20 one-day matches, averaging 19.76 for his 32 wickets; he took his first five-wicket haul in one-day cricket in a 46-run victory against Gloucestershire in the Norwich Union League, and ended the season as Hampshire's leading wicket-taker in one-day cricket. Mascarenhas made 17 first-class appearances in the 2003 season, scoring 600 runs at an average of 25. He made an unbeaten century against Glamorgan in the County Championship in April. Later in the season, he made 92 runs against Durham, forming a partnership of 123 runs for the eighth wicket with Shaun Udal. He took 40 first-class wickets at 32.17, with his best figures being 6 for 55 against Northamptonshire. He took 39 one-day wickets during the season, the joint-highest nationally with Graham Napier. In June, he featured in Hampshire's first-ever Twenty20 (T20) match, against Sussex at Southampton in the Twenty20 Cup; Mascarenhas played five matches in the competition's inaugural edition.
In 16 first-class appearances in 2004, Mascarenhas scored 477 runs, making one century against Durham in the County Championship. He claimed 50 first-class wickets in a season for the first time, with 56 at 18.67; he took five or more wickets four times, with career-best figures of 6 for 25 against Derbyshire. He ended the season as Hampshire's leading first-class wicket-taker. In one-day cricket, he took 12 wickets from 15 appearances, and scored 413 runs at 37.54, including four half-centuries. In July 2004 against Sussex, he became the first player to take three wickets in three consecutive balls in T20 cricket when he dismissed Mark Davis, Mushtaq Ahmed and Jason Lewry; his 5 for 14 from 3 overs and 5 balls included two maidens. Mascarenhas played for England in the Hong Kong Sixes competition after the season, helping to retain their title. In the 2005 season, he achieved his highest first-class batting average, 49.09, with an aggregate of 540 runs from 11 matches; he made two centuries, against Warwickshire (102 not out) and Nottinghamshire (103 not out). In the former, he shared a seventh-wicket partnership of 324 runs with Shane Watson, and in the latter he helped Hampshire to an innings-and-188-run victory, securing a second-place finish in the County Championship. He took 34 first-class wickets at 23.55, with two five-wicket hauls. His Championship appearances were limited by a back injury sustained in a match in May, keeping him out throughout June. He played for Hampshire in the final of the Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy at Lord's in September, where they defeated Warwickshire. In 14 one-day matches, he scored 254 runs and took 14 wickets.
International debut
Mascarenhas played 16 first-class matches in 2006, scoring 474 runs; he made one century against Kent, a score of 131 runs, the highest of his career. He also took 43 wickets at 24.97. In August, he was reprimanded by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) for breaching the disciplinary code in relating to "abuse of the ground, equipment or fixtures and fittings" in a County Championship match against Warwickshire. In 16 one-day appearances, he scored 336 runs at an average of 30.54, and took 11 wickets. In eight Twenty20 Cup appearances, he scored 127 runs with a highest score of 42 not out, and took 9 wickets, including a match-winning 4 for 23 against Sussex. Warne, Hampshire's club captain, publicly highlighted Mascarenhas's abilities and called for him to be selected for the England One Day International (ODI) team. On 13 September 2006 Warne 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".