“England have changed now – it really is as simple as that.” These words come from their former all-rounder Dimi Mascarenhas who, now ensconced in the New Zealand camp in the role of fast-bowling coach, cannot help but smile that his old country have, somewhat belatedly, experienced an epiphany in one-day cricket.
Breaking the 400-run barrier for the first time in the series opener at Edgbaston on Tuesday, followed by their highest total batting second in the thrilling but thwarted run-chase at The Oval on Friday night, Eoin Morgan’s side have now entered the age of 50-over enlightenment, approaching the format with an open-minded belief that any total is possible rather than the visceral fear that so crippled their World Cup campaign.
That this sea change in philosophy has occurred against Mascarenhas’s new charges is only a minor concern. Like the rest of the New Zealand set-up, the 37-year-old loves watching teams play aggressive cricket and, having witnessed at first-hand English conservatism during his playing career, is simply happy that the shirt he once felt stifled in is now emboldening those who wear it.
“[English one-day cricket] hadn’t been good for a long time,” he says. “But the way they came out at Edgbaston ... they played with such freedom and showed that if you back yourself then anything can happen. They have now caught up with the standard and the type of cricket you need to play to win international matches.”
Why has it taken so long? “It was the structure – the type of game England wanted to play wasn’t conducive to attacking,” he says. “But now you have guys like Joe Root scoring 100 from 71 balls and he didn’t even slog, he just played a beautiful innings. The talent was always there in English cricket, of course it was. It was simply the way the game was being played. These days you have to go out there and back yourself.”
The latter mindset was certainly at play when Mascarenhas launched India’s Yuvraj Singh for five consecutive sixes in a one-day international at The Oval in 2007 – “It’s what I’m remembered for in international cricket but that’s no bad thing” – and one he intends to preach in his coaching career.
Despite having retired from playing in early 2014, he has enjoyed a rapid rise in international backroom staff following one season as head coach of Otago in New Zealand’s domestic competitions and a brief spell working with Hobart Hurricanes in Australia’s Big Bash League.
What began as a secondment for this tour of England following Shane Bond’s post-World Cup departure has now, following the endorsements of the new ball pairing Trent Boult and Tim Southee, turned into a two-year contract.
Is it strange that a former medium-pacer now finds himself in charge of one of the world’s premier fast-bowling stables? “It’s certainly not about passing on what I did in my career – no one in world cricket bowls like I did,” he says. “It’s about tactics, the mental side of things and acting as a sounding board. People have asked me if it is weird coaching against England and it is in a tiny way. But I talk about New Zealand as ‘we’ and ‘us’ now – it’s not England any more.”
That Mascarenhas has been so swiftly assimilated by his new country is fitting for a cricketer whose life has been one of rich variety and led him to play domestically in five countries. Born in Chiswick, west London, to Sri Lankan parents but raised in Perth, Western Australia, he came back to England in 1996 for one season of club cricket only to find himself absorbed into the Hampshire set-up, where he would play for 18 seasons.
He now returns to the Ageas Bowl for Sunday’s third one-day international, excited about the prospect of seeing old friends at the club. Still speaking with an Aussie twang – he claims he will resist the vowel-shift that denotes the New Zealand accent – Mascarenhas remains philosophical about why his England career ended in 2009 after 34 appearances.
“I look back and say I could have had more opportunities but then I got more than some so I can’t really complain.” he says. “I didn’t perform with the bat as well as I can. With the ball, especially at the start of my international career, I was never used at the right time. The captain [Paul Collingwood] didn’t bowl me when I should have been bowling, which was tough.”
Having been the first England player to appear in the Indian Premier League when he joined Rajasthan Royals for the tournament’s inaugural season in 2008 – a role that he remains grateful to his close friend Shane Warne for securing – Mascarenhas endorses the view that English one-day cricket would benefit from exposing more of its players to overseas Twenty20 cricket.
With such a varied experience in the game – winning five trophies at Hampshire and seven in all – does he have any ambitions to coach England? “I’d never say never. But I am loving this current opportunity with New Zealand. Who knows where I’ll end up? I just go wherever the sport takes me,” he says. So the career is not mapped out then? “Nah, mate, I just live in the day.”
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