Rex Clementine reporting from Dambulla
Ever since England's Dimitri Mascarenhas massacred five successive sixes in the last over during a One-Day International against India, the interest on this player, born to Sri Lankan parents has been massive.
Mascarenhas' parents hail from Negombo and his relatives still live there and during his stay in Dambulla with the English team, the 29-year-old spoke to 'The Island'.
"Both my parents are from Negombo. I was born in London, but my older brother was born in Negombo. My parents left Sri Lanka somewhere in 1976 and then we came back to Negombo and lived there for about a year and then moved to Melbourne, Australia, where my younger brother was born," the England all-rounder recalled.
"All of us play cricket. My elder brother played quite a bit of cricket and my younger brother still plays club cricket," he said.
Dimitri's relatives were thrilled to see him playing international cricket and came to Colombo when he landed with the English team to greet him.
"I have got plenty of relatives in Negombo. My grandmother still lives there. Then there are my aunties, uncles and quite a few people. I saw them when we were in Colombo and that was nice. They are supposed to be here for the games in Dambulla too. It will be sort of family reunion with both mum and dad supposed to be at Dambulla to see me play. As for me, it's just great to be back to the place of your origin," he added.
Since migrating, Dimitri has been here on a few instances on holidays, but it's his present arrival that has sparked attention. "It's very good to see where my mum and dad are from and my heritage and stuff. It's been really nice to see the sights and good to play against this brilliant Sri Lanka side. We have to play really well to beat them. At the moment, we haven't even come close to competing."
Dimitri in fact could have played for three countries. He could have played for Sri Lanka as his parents were Sri Lankans. Then for Australia as he lived there for years and of course for England as he was born there and it was the latter that he chose.
"True that I was brought up in Australia, but the first opportunity I got was with England and ever since things have gone really well."
Did he ever think of playing for Sri Lanka? "Unfortunately not. I have been in England since I was 18 and always it was a case of wearing England colours," he revealed.
Dimitri has also become a favourite in the Sri Lankan dressing room with captain Mahela Jayawardene revealing that he would have loved him to play for Sri Lanka. "I don't know them that much, but we get along very well. I have met a few of them back in England during county matches and it's been good fun."
He plays county cricket for Hampshire, where Shane Warne and England hero Kevin Pietersen are team-mates. "To have Warney as a mate back at Hampshire has been great. He's been a big influence too in my career. All what I want to do is to play for England as long as I can. To make to a World Cup would be nice and I'll have to play really well. We'll see how it goes."
He was not named for the first ODI and Sri Lankan supporters will be hoping to see one of their own in England colours, but hopefully, he won't do what he did to Yuvraj Singh a few weeks back, hitting five successive sixes.
Ever since England's Dimitri Mascarenhas massacred five successive sixes in the last over during a One-Day International against India, the interest on this player, born to Sri Lankan parents has been massive.
Mascarenhas' parents hail from Negombo and his relatives still live there and during his stay in Dambulla with the English team, the 29-year-old spoke to 'The Island'.
"Both my parents are from Negombo. I was born in London, but my older brother was born in Negombo. My parents left Sri Lanka somewhere in 1976 and then we came back to Negombo and lived there for about a year and then moved to Melbourne, Australia, where my younger brother was born," the England all-rounder recalled.
"All of us play cricket. My elder brother played quite a bit of cricket and my younger brother still plays club cricket," he said.
Dimitri's relatives were thrilled to see him playing international cricket and came to Colombo when he landed with the English team to greet him.
"I have got plenty of relatives in Negombo. My grandmother still lives there. Then there are my aunties, uncles and quite a few people. I saw them when we were in Colombo and that was nice. They are supposed to be here for the games in Dambulla too. It will be sort of family reunion with both mum and dad supposed to be at Dambulla to see me play. As for me, it's just great to be back to the place of your origin," he added.
Since migrating, Dimitri has been here on a few instances on holidays, but it's his present arrival that has sparked attention. "It's very good to see where my mum and dad are from and my heritage and stuff. It's been really nice to see the sights and good to play against this brilliant Sri Lanka side. We have to play really well to beat them. At the moment, we haven't even come close to competing."
Dimitri in fact could have played for three countries. He could have played for Sri Lanka as his parents were Sri Lankans. Then for Australia as he lived there for years and of course for England as he was born there and it was the latter that he chose.
"True that I was brought up in Australia, but the first opportunity I got was with England and ever since things have gone really well."
Did he ever think of playing for Sri Lanka? "Unfortunately not. I have been in England since I was 18 and always it was a case of wearing England colours," he revealed.
Dimitri has also become a favourite in the Sri Lankan dressing room with captain Mahela Jayawardene revealing that he would have loved him to play for Sri Lanka. "I don't know them that much, but we get along very well. I have met a few of them back in England during county matches and it's been good fun."
He plays county cricket for Hampshire, where Shane Warne and England hero Kevin Pietersen are team-mates. "To have Warney as a mate back at Hampshire has been great. He's been a big influence too in my career. All what I want to do is to play for England as long as I can. To make to a World Cup would be nice and I'll have to play really well. We'll see how it goes."
He was not named for the first ODI and Sri Lankan supporters will be hoping to see one of their own in England colours, but hopefully, he won't do what he did to Yuvraj Singh a few weeks back, hitting five successive sixes.
