Ben Hollioake

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

	Tests	ODIs
Ben Hollioake England (Eng)

Batting style	Right-handed batsman (RHB)
Bowling type	Right-arm fast-medium (RFM)
Matches	2	20
Runs scored	44	309
Batting average	11.00	20.60
100s/50s	0/0	0/2
Top score	28	63
Overs bowled	42	107
Wickets	4	8
Bowling average	49.75	66.50
5 wickets in innings	0	0
10 wickets in match	0	n/a
Best bowling	2/105	2/37
Catches/stumpings	2/0	6/0
As of 25 May 2005 Source: Cricinfo.com

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.

The Hollioakes were both signed by Surrey, and both were selected for England's one day international side, Adam first on 31 August 1996 and Ben on 25 May 1997. Aged only 19, 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-nil.

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 were 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 meant Ben lost his place in the team, 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 he remained a popular player.

Ben Hollioake died in 2002 in Perth, Australia nearby 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 corner where he died is widely known as "Hollioake Bend". His death at the age of 24 years 132 days was the youngest of any England Test cricketer.

His brother Adam set up the Ben Hollioake fund. This goal in association with CHASE hospice care for children, is to create a centre in South London that will enable CHASE to expand the support they currently offer to life limited children and their families. These are children who are not expected to live past the age of 19.