Mascarenhas backs himself

Dimitri Mascarenhas is mobbed after claiming a crucial wicket

View photo story

Dimitri Mascarenhas bounced back from a disappointing first half of the winter to guide England to a convincing victory in the opening Twenty20 international against New Zealand.

The London-born Hampshire all-rounder suffered a frustrating time with England’s one-day squad before Christmas, enduring a disappointing ICC World Twenty20 campaign in South Africa and then having to watch from the pavilion as the tourists secured a historic one-day series win in Sri Lanka.

But given another opportunity in the first Twenty20 of the New Zealand tour at Eden Park, Mascarenhas sparkled with bat and ball as England romped to a comprehensive 32-run victory and gained revenge for New Zealand’s victories over them in the World Cup and ICC World Twenty20 last year.

Mascarenhas firstly injected some much-needed impetus into England’s innings with a fluent 31 off 14 balls to guide them to a competitive 184 for eight - an innings which included hitting off-spinner Jeetan Patel for four successive sixes.

Then he showed his intelligence with the ball by using changes of pace to claim a miserly 2-19 from his four overs as New Zealand were dismissed for 152 with four balls remaining.

It was a stark turnaround in fortunes for a player who announced himself to the England side by hitting India’s Yuvraj Singh for five successive sixes during a one-day international at the Brit Oval last summer, before slipping out of favour in Sri Lanka.

“Out here I thought there might be a good chance I would start, so starting in the Twenty20 was brilliant,” enthused man of the match Mascarenhas. “I’ve been working hard and it’s always good to perform.

Mascarenhas has fun hitting four sixes © Getty Images

Buy this photo

“Hopefully I’ll play in the next game and I’ll just have to wait and see for the one-day internationals because it’s a totally different game.

“It’s always good to hit a few sixes - it’s good fun - but more importantly it’s good to get out there and get some runs because I haven’t had a bat yet on this tour.

“It helped that there was such a short boundary and I said to Colly (Paul Collingwood) that whoever was bowling I was going to go after him. He told me to back myself and I did.

“He bowled a few in the slot and they went out of the park. I always try to get myself in and we’d pretty much blocked out a maiden the over before so we needed to get some runs. It was a good over for us in the context of the game.”

Until Mascarenhas’ demonstration of attacking strokeplay, New Zealand appeared to have halted England’s momentum after Kevin Pietersen, who hit an explosive 43 off 23 balls, was superbly caught low at midwicket attempting to drive Patel.

That seemed to stall England and with debutant Jesse Ryder conceding only two runs and also winning an lbw appeal in his first international over, the pendulum appeared to swing towards New Zealand until stand-in captain Brendon McCullum chose to recall Patel for the 16th over of the innings.

Brendon McCullum and Jeetan Patel celebrate © Getty Images

Buy this photo

It was an ill-advised move as Mascarenhas hammered 26 off the over and McCullum - leading New Zealand in the absence of injured captain Daniel Vettori - insisted: “At the time you’ve got to go with your gut feeling.

“My gut feeling was that Jeetan has earned the right over the last two or three years when he’s put in some outstanding performances for us under pressure.

“Jesse was the option to break the partnership, which he did. I thought going to Jeetan was the smart thing to do but it didn’t prove so.

“Mascarenhas looked like he was struggling for the first couple of overs and then all of a sudden he hit his straps.

“He obviously hits a big ball and I thought the way he bowled was outstanding as well - he hit a good length with lots of changes of pace and he’s obviously a smart bowler.”

With the required run-rate escalating quickly, even an impressive innings of 61 off 40 balls from all-rounder Jacob Oram could not halt England’s progression to a victory which they hope has set the tone for Thursday’s second Twenty20 international and the five-match one-day series which follows.

“The good thing is that we’re going to gain a lot of confidence from winning,” added Collingwood.

“We’ve had one win tonight and hopefully we can do that again on Thursday.”