Benjamin Caine Hollioake (11 November 1977 – 23 March 2002) was an Englishcricketer who played forSurrey County Cricket Club and theEngland cricket team. Born in Australia, Hollioake moved to England where he made his first-class cricketing debut for Surrey in 1996. A right-handedbatsman and right-armseam bowler, Hollioake's performances as anall-rounder saw him join his brotherAdam in the 1997 EnglandODI team. Later that year, Adam and Ben Hollioake made their EnglandTest debut in the same game, becoming only the third set of brothers to do so. Ben Hollioake made two Test appearances and earned 20 ODI caps before he was killed in a car crash in Australia at the age of 24.

The son of an Australian engineer and his Indonesian wife, Ben Hollioake was born inMelbourne,Victoria, Australia, in 1977.^[1] Hollioake got his cricketing start inHong Kong, where the family lived for two years until he was five, before they moved on to England.^[2] He played junior cricket in Sydney, in his first organised match for Gladesville District when he was 9 years old, he tookfigures of 9/13 in an under-12 match.^[3] Hollioake moved to England in 1984 along with his older brother,Adam,^[4] for 2 years and then a further 3 years in Hong Kong before returning to Australia. He was educated atMillfield Preparatory School and later atWesley College, Perth.^[1]

A graceful batsman who was capable of massive hitting, and a useful medium pacer with a knack of taking wickets, Ben joined his brother at Surrey in 1994.^[1] Hollioake made his first-class debut for Surrey in 1996, taking four 4–74 againstYorkshire atAcklam Park, Middlesbrough,^[4] and was awarded theNBC Denis Compton Award that same year. In May 1997, aged 19, he was called up to England's ODI squad to playAustralia. Making his debut batting at number three for the final game of the series atLord's, Hollioake struck 63 runs off 48 balls^[5] and was namedMan of the Match. England won the three-match series 3–0. His performance led to the media comparing him to the great English all-rounderIan Botham.^[6][7][8]

The following July, Hollioake produced another Man of the Match performance at Lords, this time taking two wickets and scoring 98 runs from 112 deliveries as Surrey defeatedKent in the final of theBenson & Hedges Cup.^[1]

England were not performing well in the1997 Ashes series when Ben and Adam made theirTest debuts together, on 7 August 1997. England was losing the six-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. Aged 19 years and 269 days, Hollioake was England's youngest Test player sinceBrian Close in 1949.^[4][9] Losing his place in the team soon after, he touredSri Lanka that winter with theEngland A team, scoring two centuries.^[1] Ben played one more Test match, againstSri Lanka in 1998,^[10] scoring 14 and 0 with the bat, and bowling two for 105.^[1]

The following year, Surrey awarded Hollioake hiscounty cap, but his form began to waver and, by August 2000, he could not command a regular place in the county side that had won back-to-backcounty championships. After working hard on his technique during the winter break, Hollioake delivered several impressive performances for Surrey that led to his recall to the English ODI side in 2001.^[1]

In July 2001 he was once more man of the match in the final of the Benson and Hedges Cup at Lord's, where he scored 73 runs and helped Surrey to victory overGloucestershire.^[11]

Steve James wrote intheDaily Telegraph:^[11]

At times he was so laid back as to be infuriating... but there was a remarkable warmth and gentleness in his character. Among the youngsters he was simply one thing: cool.

Hollioake died on 23 March 2002 inPerth,Western Australia, near his childhood school,Wesley College, when he crashed hisPorsche 924 into a wall on the Mill Point Road exit of theKwinana Freeway on his way home from a family celebration.^[10] His death at the age of 24 years and 132 days was the youngest of any England Test cricketer.^[12][13]

Following his death, Ben's brother,Adam Hollioake and his family established the Ben Hollioake Fund to raise funds forCHASE Hospice Care for Children.^[14] A range of fundraising activities have taken place, including breaking the world record for the number of participants in a continuous 100-metre relay in 2004.^[15]

At theHong Kong Cricket Sixes, the player of the tournament award is named in his honour, the 'Ben Hollioake Award'.^[2][16]

At his old club, Surrey, an apprenticeship for an up-and-coming younger player was set up in 2003, also called the 'Ben Hollioake Award'.^[17]

• County Championship (2) – 1999, 2000
• Benson and Hedges Cup (2) – 1997, 2001

• List of Test or One-day International cricket families

• Ben Hollioake atESPNcricinfo
• CHASE Ben Hollioake Fund(archived)
• CHASE Hospice Care for Children(archived)

• 1977 births
• 2002 deaths
• Australian people of Indonesian descent
• People educated at Millfield
• England One Day International cricketers
• England Test cricketers
• English cricketers
• Road incident deaths in Western Australia
• Surrey cricketers
• People educated at Wesley College, Perth
• People educated at St Joseph's College, Hunters Hill
• NBC Denis Compton Award recipients
• People educated at St George's College, Weybridge
• People educated at Millfield Preparatory School
• First-Class Counties Select XI cricketers
• Cricketers from Melbourne

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• EngvarB from August 2013
• Use dmy dates from March 2022