Q & A session with former England captain Adam Hollioake

Hi guys Adam has managed to get an interview/ Q&A with Adam Hollioake lined up.

Could be a very interesting interview - Former England Cricket captain turned Cage fighter!

Adam was a natural leader, encouraged his Surrey side to get up the opposition's noses, and relished a scrap. His batting was more artisan than artiste but he was strong square of the wicket and possessed a tasty cover-drive. As a seamer he was more effective in the one-day game, where his hard-to-pick knuckle ball fooled 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. His England career appeared to be over when he was dropped after the disastrous 1999 World Cup, but was back in the selectors' thoughts ahead of the 2003 tournament.

By then, however, 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. At the end of the 2003 season, he embarked on a sponsored walk, cycle and sail from Scotland to Morocco to raise money for the Ben Hollioake Memorial Fund, and announced his intention to retire at the end of 2004. He came back for one match, in 2005, when he took a hat-trick in a fundraiser, and then in 2007 made an unexpected - and largely unsuccessful - return to Twenty20 cricket, playing for Essex.

Tests stats

Batting played 4 tests, 6 innings, total runs 65, average 10.83
Bowling 3 innings, 2 wickets average 335

ODI's

Batting 25 matches , 30 innings, average 25.25, 3 fifties
Bowling 32 innings, 32 wickets, average 31.84

T20's
Batting 22 matches 19 innings, average 23.53, strike rate 137.83
Bowling 19 innings, 40 wickets, average 12.87, economy rate 8.02

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

So fire away, ask your questions.

What made you get into cage fighting?

Which county player does he think we should look out for this season?

In the later end of your career you became known as a T20 expert, so what are your views on the IPL? Would you have played in it, and risked harming your Test prospects or would you waited till the twilight of your career before switching to it?

What effects do you think T20 has had on cricket world-wide?
What went through your mind walking back after leaving that straight one from Warne at the Oval?

Which of the current crop of young Surrey players do you rate most highly?

(Well done for getting the interview )

Would you liked to have established yourself as more of an all-rounder in International Cricket?

What is your best cricketing memory of Ben?

you were one of the leading T20 death bowlers in your day, when the form of the game was first introduced. What was your thinking process when bowling at the end of an innings? How much has T20 changed since then?

What was your best (personal) cricketing memory?

need to think on some decent questions re captaincy.

Which form of the game was the most challenging/toughest to captain? Tzlk us through the different challenges facing the captain in each format...

BTW well done on securing the Q&A, I remember how interesting the Nixon one was. This should be great!

Do you think England players should play more for their Countys ?

What do you think of the IPL ? Should the ECCB and the Countys be more willing to acomodate players wishing to go ?

Do you wish T20 had been around for your whole career?

What was your proudest moment in cricket?

Some questions from a Surrey perspective with many thanks for the success Adam Hollioake brought to the Club.

You left Surrey and very largely retired from the game in your early thirties. Ben's tragic death clearly determined the causes you devoted much of your time to in the immediately following years. However, were you already considering a career away from cricket? If so, were Surrey at fault in any way?

A couple of questions about former Surrey team mates.

Do you think Ali Brown should have received wider credit for his batting? If so, do you believe he might have made it at Test level?

Alex Tudor appeared to have everything to be a constantly successful fast bowler apart from self belief. Do you agree?

[ Very well done for arranging this Q&A ]

Edit: PS - Not a question but please emphasise how disgusted all at Surrey and, indeed, all cricket followers were by the recent theft of Ben's England kit.

I have been sent a couple of questions from Goodfella from another forum I frequent (cheers by the way!)

1) Having been a former county cricket captain yourself, what are your thoughts on the current county system, the amount of games played and the way they are scheduled across all three formats and the talent pool that is available to the England set-up from it? Having seen The Morgan Report, what would you change?

2) What do you think of the current young Surrey crop coming through like Rory Hamilton-Brown, Jason Roy and Jade Dernbach? Do you think Surrey are starting to win some respect back under Chris Adams tutorship and with these talented young players coming through?

3) What do you think went wrong with England's winter and what would you have changed if you were still a part of the team?

What is your take on the switch-hit utilised so effectively by Kevin Pietersen that has continued to cause a stir?

As captain, were there players in the dressing room who just didn't get on with each other (not asking you to name names of course)? If so how did you handle it? More generally, how did you cope with handling all the different personalities of the dressing room?

Did your England career end to early in your opinion ?

Who was the best player you played with?

Who was your favorite opponent player & county?

Who did you hate playing against player & county?

Other than the Oval, what was your favorite county ground & why?

What was the best ground you've ever played at and why?

Who is the best crickter you've seen & played against?

Going to be sending these tomorrow, so last chance