Wisden overview
Until his tragic death in a car accident in March 2002, Ben Hollioake was perhaps the most gifted young cricketer in England. With the ball he obtained bounce and movement away from the right-hander, but could be hittable and had an awkward action in which both arms simultaneously pointed skywards prior to delivery. With the bat he oozed nonchalance, mixing lazy wafts over midwicket with languid off-drives - and a tendency to get himself out. In his first four full seasons with Surrey, his top score was only 76. He was the flavour of the month when he drove Glenn McGrath to distraction on his one-day debut for England in 1997, but as expectation grew, Hollioake faltered. Selectorial policy didn't help: his two Tests were a year apart and after that dreamy debut, it was four years before he was given another one-dayer in England. He hit rock-bottom in 2000, when he could hardly scrape a run or buy a wicket, and Surrey, led by older brother Adam, were forced to drop him. He was finally restored to England's one-day side in 2001, when his batting and fielding were among the few bright spots in a team that lost all six of its matches. We will never know whether his immense potential would have been fulfilled. Lawrence Booth

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