Ben Hollioake

Ben Hollioake

Personal information
Full name	Benjamin Caine Hollioake
Born	11 November 1977(1977-11-11) Melbourne, Australia
Died	23 March 2002(2002-03-23) (aged 24) Perth, Australia
Batting style	Right-handed
Bowling style	Right arm fast-medium
Role	All-rounder
Relations	AJ Hollioake (brother)
International information
National side	England
Test debut (cap 588)	7 August 1997 v Australia
Last Test	31 August 1998 v Sri Lanka
ODI debut (cap 146)	25 May 1997 v Australia
Last ODI	28 January 2002 v India
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1996–2001	Surrey
Career statistics
Competition	Tests	ODI	FC	LA
Matches	2	20	75	136
Runs scored	44	309	2794	2481
Batting average	11.00	20.60	25.87	24.08
100s/50s	0/0	0/2	3/14	0/14
Top score	28	63	163	98
Balls bowled	252	642	7293	4833
Wickets	4	8	126	142
Bowling average	49.75	66.50	33.45	28.22
5 wickets in innings	–	0	1	1
10 wickets in match	–	n/a	0	n/a
Best bowling	2/105	2/37	5/51	5/10
Catches/stumpings	2/–	6/–	68/–	44/–
Source: Cricinfo, 23 March 2002

Benjamin Caine Hollioake (11 November 1977 – 23 March 2002) was an all rounder for Surrey County Cricket Club and the England cricket team. He was born in Melbourne, Australia, and moved to England as a boy, along with his older brother Adam. He was educated at Millfield Preparatory School and later at Millfield.

A graceful batsman who was capable of massive hitting, and a useful medium pacer with a knack of taking wickets, Ben joined his older brother Adam at Surrey in 1995. But before moving to England, he played a lot of junior cricket in Sydney, especially in the Gladesville District Cricket Association. He represented Gladesville District when he was just 9 years old, and was well renowned for his lightning fast bowling and talent with the bat - even at that young age. Considered the more naturally gifted of the two brothers, Hollioake impressed many with his hard hitting batting, canny medium pace, and athletic fielding, and in 1997, aged only 19, he was called up to England's ODI squad to play Australia. Selected for the third and final game of the series at Lord's Ben performed stunningly in his ODI debut, striking 63 runs off 48 balls against Australia and becoming Man of the Match, and England won the 3-match series 3-0. Such a stunning performance led to the media comparing him to the great English all-rounder Ian Botham, with many journalists calling him "The most exciting young English cricketer in a decade" due to his exciting brand of cricket, good looks, and natural charisma.

England were not performing so well in the 1997 Ashes series when Ben and Adam made their Test debuts together, on 7 August 1997. England was losing the 6-Test series 2-1 when the Hollioake brothers were selected for the fifth Test, becoming the fifth set of brothers to play for England in the same Test and the third to make a debut together after the Grace and Hearne brothers. Still only 19, Ben was England's youngest Test player since Brian Close in 1949. However, a loss in that match, and England's questionable selection policies at the time, meant Ben lost his place in the team soon after, and he toured that winter with the England A team. Ben played one more Test match, against Sri Lanka in 1998, and drifted in and out of the one day team, but never quite established himself as first choice all rounder, although towards the end of his career he was showing signs of becoming a more consistent player.

Steve James wrote in the Daily Telegraph:

At times he was so laid back as to be infuriating... but there was a remarkable warmth and gentleness in his character. Amongst the youngsters he was simply one thing: cool.

Death

Ben Hollioake died in 2002 in Perth, Australia near his childhood school Wesley College, Perth, when he crashed his Porsche 968 convertible into a wall on the Mill Point Road exit of the Kwinana Freeway on his way home from a family celebration. The death of one of English cricket's most well-liked players at the age of 24 years 132 days was the youngest of any England Test cricketer.

Ben's brother Adam and the Hollioake family wanted to create an everlasting memory in Ben's name, so Adam established the CHASE Ben Hollioake fund in 2002. Adam was already involved with CHASE hospice care for children and as a result, the fund was set up and in association with CHASE aims to raise as much funding as possible for CHASE to continue providing their caring service to families with life-limited children and young people.

See also

• List of Test or One-day International cricket families

External links

• Player profile: Ben Hollioake from ESPNcricinfo
• http://www.benhollioakefund.com
• http://www.chasecare.org.uk