sad plight of a Cricketer turning to MMA and becoming bankrupt !

The present India Srilanka Series is far from inspiring – there  have been past instances of Test matches getting over inside three days in bowler-friendly conditions. But the Sri Lankan team’s defeat in two-and-a-half days at the Pallekele International Stadium will be hard to digest for its cricket fraternity as it was owing to rank-bad cricket. Routed in the first two Tests, Sri Lankan cricket sunk to a new low on Monday when India wrapped up the third Test in less than three days, winning by an innings and 171 runs. Sri Lanka’s first innings lasted 37.4 overs and second 74.3 overs as India completed a 3-0 whitewash.  Onedayers were expected to different ~ but now the result is 3-0 but for the 2^nd where Akila Dhananjaya’s 6 for threatened India before Buvi’s maiden 50 and Dhoni steadfastness ensured another Indian win.   Lankan fans are naturally disappointed  - they showed their ire by holding up the team bus and the 3^rd match was marred by bottle throwing stoppage – yet, Cricket is loved by all !!

In India, the previous generation of established Cricketers got secure jobs, rose to Senior levels with their game performance and happily retired ~ nowadays, most of them are Pros – have a thought, what would happen if they were to fail in their Career ?   Can you recognize this Cricketer ?

I don’t watch this and would not consider it a game ! - Cage Fighting more popularly known as MMA (Mixed Martial Arts),  is a full contact sport in which two fighters compete against each other using various types of fighting techniques. The players are pitted against each other in an octagon ring, which looks a lot like an octagon cage. The rules of the game are quite simple. You win by physically overpowering your opponent, which is easier said than done.  The history of the popularity of mixed martial arts can be traced back to the times of Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris, although some purists believe that they did not exactly invent it. The likes of Bruce Lee gave martial arts a wide audience and mixed martial arts evolved over time.

Here is plight of a Cricketer, born in Australia, raised in Australia, captained England then came back to live in Australia, whose career graph fell and financially was ruined ! sad !!

Adam Hollioake may be better known for his days as England and Surrey cricket captain but that wouldn't be paying respect to his whole professional sporting career.   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. His England career appeared to be over when he was dropped after the disastrous 1999 World Cup, incidentally, the match against India at Birmingham in May 1999 was his lost in  ODI.   

For the records, he played 4 Tests made 65 runs; took 2 wickets; in ODIs – played 35, scored 606 and took 32 wickets !

In 2012, Hollioake became the first international cricketer to compete professionally as a Mixed Martial Artist when he fought Joel Millar on an event called 'Glory 2 – The Struggle Within' and he competed professionally as both a boxer and a mixed martial artist many times after.  Recently, there was a news of Hollioake, 45, revealing  in a Facebook post of  the brazen alleged thief coming when she arrived at his Gold Coast home. He posted - “I just sold an antique cabinet on gumtree and a little old lady (about 70) came round to collect it... she seemed pleasant enough and we discussed getting it in her car and I helped her lay her seats down and lifted the cabinet into the car for her... and she just fled without paying !!

Hollioake gave up cricket and returned to Australia, where he was born, to go into business in 2004. But in July 2011,  he was declared bankrupt, had to appear  in court to confirm how much money is owed to each of his 40 creditors. His  property development company, the Hollioake Group, collapsed  owing A$20 million (£13.2m) to more than 40 creditors, including Hollioake's former Surrey and England team-mate Alec Stewart. Hollioake,  and his sister Eboni were both directors of the Perth-based company before they resigned in late 2009, after which their father, John Hollioake, carried on as director until a receiver was called in and the company was liquidated in September 2010. Adam Hollioake remained as a shareholder however, and it was he and his father who were the subject of the court case in Brisbane brought by the businessman Martin Ryman. Ryman was suing Adam and John Hollioake for more than A$2.7 million (£1.8m) and finally won  judgment in a case that had lasted almost nine months.

There was more tragedy in his life as his younger brother, Ben Hollioake, who also played for Surrey and England, died in a car crash in Australia in 2002 at the age of just 24. Ben Hollioake died when his Porsche 924 left a freeway exit road, made slippery by light rain, and crashed into a brick wall. He had been driving home from the customary family dinner that preceded his and his brother Adam's return to Surrey for the English season, having spent much of the winter with England's one-day squad in Zimbabwe, India and New Zealand. Ben was just 24 years and 132 days old: no England Test cricketer had died so young.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

29^th Aug 2017