DORSET manager Sean Walbridge says it will be a big thrill if Hampshire captain Dimi Mascarenhas is declared fit for their Twenty20 clash at Dean Park today.

Royals boss Giles White is keen for the England international to make his first senior appearance of the campaign against Dorset following injury.

Mascarenhas has been sidelined with an Achilles problem.

But White wants to test the former Dorset all-rounder’s fitness ahead of their Friends Provident Twenty20 opener against Kent at the Rose Bowl on Thursday.

White said: “Dimi’s important low down the order and takes pace off the ball, so we’re hoping he’ll play against Dorset and, if he gets through that, against Kent.”

Walbridge said: “Dimi played his one championship game for Dorset against Cornwall at Truro in 1996 when he got three runs but took seven for 64 with the ball in their first innings.

“I played in that game along with people like Richard Scott, Giles Reynolds, Jon Hardy, Stuart Rintoul, Tim Lamb and Julian Shackleton and it will be great to catch up with him again.

“Dimi is one of the players the public will be turning up to see.”

Mascarenhas’s last appearance at the picturesque Bournemouth town centre ground was in 1998 when he made 30 not out in Hampshire’s 161-run victory over Dorset in the NatWest Trophy.

Gates open at Dean Park today at 3.30pm. Tickets are on sale at the gate and cost £10 (adults), £5 (OAPs and under-16s). A family ticket to include two adults and two children is £20.

Dorset: N Park, Lawrence, Williams, Treagus, Cowley, Taylor, Morgan, C Park, Hicks, Metcalfe, Denham, Banham.

Hampshire: (from) Adams, Lumb, Carberry, Ervine, McKenzie, Benham, Pothas, Mascarenhas, Dawson, Cork, Wood, Ali, Briggs, Griffiths.