Adam John Hollioake (born 5 September 1971) is a former cricketer who represented England and is now a cricket coach. He has also competed as a professional boxer and had one fight as a mixed martial artist. Hollioake is currently head coach at Kent County Cricket Club.

As a player, he was an all-rounder who played for Surrey and England. He captained Surrey from 1997 until 2003, winning three County Championships, and led England in One Day Internationals. He was named one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 2003. He moved to Perth, Western Australia and later to Queensland. His property company, the Hollioake Group, collapsed in 2010. As a cricket coach he has worked with Pakistan, England Lions, Queensland and Surrey.

Early life

Hollioake was born in Melbourne in 1971 and grew up in the mining town of Ballarat, where his family had lived for five generations.

Although his test career lasted only four matches in 1997 and at the beginning of 1998, Hollioake achieved greater success in One Day Internationals, playing in 35 matches from 1996 to 1999. He captained the team to victory in the 1997 Sharjah Cup, England's first tournament success for ten years.

After 173 first-classes matches for Surrey, Hollioake retired from cricket at the end of the 2004 season. and made a brief return to Twenty20 cricket in 2007, playing in eight matches for Essex.

Charity work

Following the death of his brother and Surrey and England teammate, Ben, in a car accident in 2002, Hollioake and his family established the Ben Hollioake Fund to raise funds for CHASE hospice care for children. Other fundraising projects Hollioake has been involved in include Cricket Challenge, which raises money for the Queensland-based charity Paradise Kids, where members of the public compete against stars and cricketing legends, and the Battle of the Stars charity golf day.

Media work

Hollioake made several appearances on the BBC programme A Question of Sport and Sky Sports Cricket AM, as well as appearing on programmes such as the 2004 Test the Nation quiz. In 2005, Hollioake took part in a revived Superstars programme on BBC television, finishing fourth in the competition behind skier Alain Baxter, Olympic athlete Du'aine Ladejo and rower Steve Williams. In 2007 Hollioake and Ladejo formed Quiet Storm Productions, which owned the television show Australia's Greatest Athlete.

Business career

Hollioake and other members of his family owned an Australia-based property company, the Hollioake Group, which collapsed with debts of around A$20 million and was liquidated in September 2010.

In 2017, Hollioake coached Afghan Twenty20 team Boost Defenders, who played in the Shpageeza Cricket League. Around this time, he was also involved with the England Lions including working as a fielding coach. He was hired by Queensland Cricket for the 2018–19 season to work with their pathways cricketers and later as a batting coach.

In November 2023, he was appointed batting coach for the Pakistan national team for their tour of Australia. He returned to Surrey in 2024 in a role as assistant coach.

Hollioake was appointed as Kent head coach on a three-year contract in December 2024.

Boxing and MMA career

On 13 April 2012, he had his pro boxing debut against Leigh Blacka (2 2 0) at the Tattersalls Club, Brisbane. He knocked Blacka down in the first and third rounds, and won the bout via a TKO in the 4th round.

Later that month he revealed that he would also be fighting as a mixed martial artist in Queensland, Australia in the light heavyweight division.

On 1 September 2012, Hollioake defeated Warren Tresidder in the modified style of MMA which will eliminate the use of knee strikes, elbows strikes and kicks but allows limited ground fighting.

Hollioake went back to boxing and on 6 October he fought Shane Wood (0 1 0) at the Matrix Boxing Gym, Southport. He lost this 4 round contest by a unanimous decision, all 3 judges scoring the bout 40 – 36 in favour of Wood.

For his next fight on 12 July 2013, Hollioake had a rematch against Warren Tresidder, but this time in a 6-round contest under the laws of boxing. It was staged at Southport Sharks AFL Club and it was to be Tresidders boxing debut. The result was the same as the MMA contest, with Hollioake's hand being raised in victory by split decision. The 3 judge's scorecards were 58–56, 57–58, 58–56.

After over an 18-month break, Hollioake's next fight was 28 March 2015. He fought Monty Betham Jnr (6 1 0) at the Horncastle Arena, Christchurch. This 4 round contest was a loss by way of TKO in the last round.

Then for his last fight on 19 September 2015, Hollioake went up against Mark Scheide and won by unanimous decision.

MMA record

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|Draw

|align=center|0–0–1

|Joel Millar

|Draw (Majority)

|Glory 2 – The Struggle Within

|

|align=center|3

|align=center|5:00

|

|

References

Further reading

  • Official Adam Hollioake Website