Adam Hollioake is captain of the England team in the 1997 Hong Kong Sixes, and has been named captain of the England squad to play in the one-day international Sharjah Cup in December.
He was interviewed on the IRC channel #cricket on 28 September 1997 at Hong Kong shortly before he was due to appear in the Sixes final for England against Pakistan.
Rohan Chandran assisted Adam with the interview, which was moderated by Alak Chakravorty.
j-sree: AdamH: do you think that separate OD and Test
squads is the way of the future?
Adam Hollioake yeah. I definitely think that its the way forward.
Its the first time that its been done, i just think
it shows that the england selectors are starting to
think a bit more about there selections.
I've been in favour of this for a very long time, and
I'm just very pleased to see it happen.
j-sree: AdamH: Thanks. I hope it catches on. (I wouldn't want
my country India to be left behind :-))
Ali: After the performance in Ashes, what do you think is
the future of england team ?
Adam Hollioake: Well, i know that we lost 3-2, but there's a lot
of positive things to take out of the series against Australia.
Adam Hollioake: I think they are the best side in the world and
thats commonly accepted, there were some individuals who
came through, namely Dean Headley, and a couple of
others who proved their world class status, Graham
Thorpe and others established themselves.
This is good for English cricket, a settled team is
going to do a lot better than one which is changing all
the time.
Adam Hollioake: on Ramps: I think Mark Ramprakash is a fine player,
I'm a huge fan of his, over the last three years he's
been the best player in county cricket
For some reason unknown to me he hasn't gone on to
reproduce that form in Tests.
I think you have to stick with him, you have to
tell him you're playing every Test, not likely to be
dropped after one Test,
and he's likely to come good, as I said, a settled
side is important.
Toby: Much was made of your Australian background. Did you
ever consider returning to Australia to play there?
Adam Hollioake: Toby: No, I've never considered returning to
Australia at all.
I learnt my cricket in England in the English
system, and if I was to return back to Australia I think
I'd be biting the hand which feeds me, in some ways I'd be
a traitor.
I know my blood is Australian, but I've learnt all
my cricket in England.
Nicole: Where did you begin playing cricket?
Adam Hollioake: Nicole: funnily enough, I first started playing
cricket in Hong Kong! I was about 9 years old when I
first came here, I used to spend.. I'm not talking
games, but nets.. I used to play in the nets all the time.
The first time I played was in Hong Kong,
then I spent a year in Australia for about a year
before going on to England, and playing the last 15
years there.
Pak: How would you approach a ODI against sri lanka when
batting first - if u were captain?
Adam Hollioake: Pak: when you say batting first, I presume you mean
we're batting first... basically I would adopt very
similar tactics to theirs.. I think they've taken the
game forward with the pinch hitting role and the rest of
the world really has to learn of it.
We have some fine pinch hitters in England who have
been selected for Sharjah and hopefully the people out
there will see us adopt a similar tactic to that which
Sri Lanka have.
j-sree: AdamH: do you think that sometime in the future
many players will start rating ODIs over Tests? Right
now, I think almost every players says Test cricket is
the real thing
Adam Hollioake: jsree: I dont believe that any one form of cricket
is more important than any other form.
Cricket is a game which is competitive, anytime you
put on your national jersey/jumper, you should be trying
100% and it's as important whether it's the HK Sixes, a
Test match or a one day international.
saad: Earlier u said you'd prefer a stable
team? English selectors have always been criticized for
being too late to notice talent, incorporate it into
their squad. stable team means you'd lose potentially
good years from great players...?
Adam Hollioake: saad: I'd like to answer the question and say, you
have to go through a rebuilding stage, which England
clearly at the moment need to do. We're kidding
ourselves if we think we're going to be the best in a
couple of months.
We have to start picking youngsters, and if that is
at the expense of some older players, then im all for
that.
In terms of one-day cricket, we need to build towards
the 1999 world cup,
and the same applies in test cricket
fawaz: Whom would you rate as the world's top
batsmen? and bowlers?
Adam Hollioake: fawaz: i think there's probably 4 batsmen that
spring to mind for me, and there's one that stands out
alone as the best, I think Steve Waugh has proven that
he's the best player in all situations.
Brian Lara and Tendulkar are obviously talented,
but Steve Waugh does it when the pressure is on,
and the other one, who is rated #2 by C&L at the
moment is my Surrey teammate Graham Thorpe.
Adam Hollioake: The bowlers, obviously Glenn Mcgrath bowled very
well recently, as did Shane Warne,... you've always got
Wasim, and Waqar Younis... and then Ambrose and Walsh of
course, there's a lot of good bowlers around
and another whom I think hopefully going to burst
on the scene is another Surrey player, Saqlain Mushtaq.
Adam Hollioake: next q
j-sree: AdamH thanks for answering my prev qns. It is a
great honour to talk with you. My next qn is how much do
bowling machines help? Do you use them?
Adam Hollioake: jsree: umm, I'm a big fan of bowling machines,
probably because I can't find anyone to bowl to me in the
nets half the time... I think they're crucial when
you've only got the two people to practice.
panther: Adam who do you think has the best bowling attack
at present?
Adam Hollioake: panther: If you're talking Test cricket, I think
Australia have proven by their record of games won in
the past few years, they consistently bowl people out..
they have an incredible record of only drawing one or
two games in the last 20 tests or so because they bowl
people out.
farzi: what do you think of the australian attitude
towards sledging, are they the worst of all?? did you
get a lot of it during the tests?
Adam Hollioake: farzi: All I'd like to say about the Australian
attitude is that I think it's a very good attitude..
They play it very hard on the pitch, but off the pitch
they are prepared to have a drink with you after the
game.. I know it's callled sledging but its part of
cricket, if you're not mentally strong enough
then maybe you shouldnt be playing... go and play
tiddlywinks, or something like that !
Alpha: What do u think is england's biggest
weakness?
Adam Hollioake: I think Englands biggest weakness is the one day
captain they've just announced!!
Adam Hollioake: only joking :-) Thanks guys.
Ben Hollioake is the younger of the brothers representing England in the
1997 Hong Kong Sixes tournament. We spoke with Ben briefly during the official tournament dinner at Hong Kong on 26 September 1997.
Sixes: we have Ben Hollioake here now!
stemmo: hello Ben, hows things
Ben Hollioake: good.. looking forward to the weekend
Garyth: Do you think some countries
play to many games against some teams, and too little
against others?
Ben Hollioake: don't know, haven't really been playing
international cricket long enough to gve an answer on that...
WGG: Have you played 6s before?
Ben Hollioake: No, this is the first time, but I'm sure it's going
to be fun.
Windian: Are there any players you
are in awe of - bowlers / batsmen that are playing currently ?
Ben Hollioake: yes, I wouldn't say in awe of.. but some that I
have the deepest respect for, like the Waugh brothers, and
obviously some of the West Indian and Pakistani bowlers..
WGG: Have you ever used the Internet
CricInfo before ?
Ben Hollioake: never.. this is the first time I'm on the internet..
my dad uses it
Keith: Do you have any feelings
about maybe being the English future captain ?
Ben Hollioake: Keith: not really at the momet, if I'm lucky enough
to play for England I'll play under whoever's captain.
Windian: Ben...do you believe that
young players like Owais Shah and Alex Tudor are good enough
to play for the senior side ?
Ben Hollioake: I don't know at the moment, but I'm sure they will
be.