Wisden overview
What Adam Hollioake lacks in ability, he makes up for with attitude. He is a natural leader, encourages his Surrey side to get up the opposition's noses, and relishes a scrap. His batting is more artisan than artiste but he is strong square of the wicket and possesses a tasty cover-drive. As a seamer he is more effective in the one-day game, where his hard-to-pick knuckle ball fools batsmen into playing too early. He shone with the bat in the one-day games against the 1997 Australians - even breaking into the Test team - and later that year inherited the captaincy of England's one-day side from Mike Atherton, who continued to lead in the Tests. It was an unprecedented but initially successful move as Hollioake's inexperienced squad lifted the Akai Singer Champions Trophy in Sharjah. But defeats in West Indies and at home to South Africa cost Hollioake his job. Although he returned to lead the side twice more, his England career appeared to be over when he was dropped altogether after the disastrous 1999 World Cup. But, four years later, with the 2003 tournament around the corner, Hollioake was recalled to the squad during the VB Series in Australia, although oddly he didn't play. By then, he had suffered the heartbreak of seeing his talented younger brother, Ben, die in a car accident. Adam returned from an enforced break a more mature character and, sometimes batting like a man possessed, lifted Surrey to a poignant third Championship title in four years. Lawrence Booth

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