HAMPSHIRE captain Dimitri Mascarenhas endured mixed fortunes in the Caribbean at the weekend.
He was England’s batting hero with a 55-ball 84, including nine fours and two sixes, in Saturday’s 51- run win against the West Indies Players’ Association.
The all-rounder provided the lower-order momentum after England had lost three wickets in six overs.
But, in his first Twenty20 international since being dropped for the Stanford Series, Mascarenhas ran himself out for a three-ball duck as Andrew Strauss’s men continued their disappointing tour by slumping to a six-wicket Twenty20 defeat against the West Indies last night.
England were all out for just 121 in 19.1 overs at Trinidad's Queen’s Park Oval.
It provided a West Indies side without injured captain Chris Gayle with a timely victory ahead of the one-day series, which begins on Friday.
The convincing defeat also extends England’s wait for their first victory in an international match this winter.
Mascarenhas was run out after hesitating over a single. He did better with the ball (4-0-17-0) and was the pick of England's attack - but that was scant consaltion.
Captain Strauss said: “Pretty obviously (the main problems lay) with the bat – you don’t win too many Twenty20s having scored 120.
“We lost wickets too regularly and we weren’t smart enough with our batting.”
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here