Hollioake's hidden ambition

Ben Hollioake, who died in a car crash at the age of 24 in Perth, Australia, early today, was a cricketer whose huge talent had yet to be realised. Picked as a 19-year old against Australia in 1997, he burst on to the stage with a precocious 63 in front of a packed house at Lord's, an innings that brought bedgrudging admiration from the Australian bowlers.

That innings, so full of fearless verve, was never to be repeated, and it will sadly become his epitaph. But many people's lives never produce any such joy and for those who like to see Aussies humbled, that day will burn bright as the match in which Glenn McGrath and company were taken apart by a teenager.

While there had been glimpses of that heady moment during his 20 one-day internationals, the last of which was in Kanpur six weeks ago on England's tour of India, he had never recaptured it in full. He also played two Test matches, against Australia and Sri Lanka, two fewer than his elder brother, Adam, the Surrey captain.

Schooled at Millfield, Ben Hollioake was born in Melbourne on 11 November 1977. His parents were Australian citizens and it was his father's work that brought him to England as a child. Both he and Adam qualified to play for England on residency, having lived in England for more than 10 years.

A languid personality, he appeared to take his talents for granted, a trait that was the opposite to his less talented but harder working brother. At Surrey, where he made his debut, some claimed it was that sibling rivalry that made Ben determined to take a different, more nonchalant path to success.

Typically, he kept his ambitions hidden, though by wintering in Perth, a robust finishing school for many English players, suggested he wanted to make it at the highest level. But if he had begun to take his work more seriously, he still had a large capacity for play. It was during a night out in Perth, the city where his parents now live, that he had the crash that was to take his life.

Indeed, his brother Adam and mother were in the car behind and witnessed his car crash into the wall. The shock for them and all his colleagues at Surrey was summed up by the club's chief executive, Paul Sheldon. who said: "This is devastating news. It is terrible to lose someone with such supreme talent as Ben's, especially when he had just begun to realise his full potential as a cricketer. Our thoughts and condolences go out to his family and friends."