Adam Hollioake chuckles from the ice bath at his home on the Gold Coast. ‘I do it every morning,’ he says. ‘And I f***ing hate it.
‘When I say I hate it, it’s the anxiety of getting in, and then the five minutes that I’m in it. I’m just bad with cold.’
Why then does the ex-England captain put himself through this daily purgatory? ‘It’s the benefits,’ he replies, referring to the reduction in inflammation in the muscles and joints, and subsequent ability of the body to recover quicker from exercise. Even at 53, dedication to being the best he can is yet to leave him.
Hollioake is a born competitor. Catalysed by the death of his younger brother Ben in a car accident in 2002, it took him away from English cricket 20 years ago and, when a business venture ended in bankruptcy, into the realms of boxing and mixed martial arts in his native Australia.
But this extraordinarily candid man is returning to the county scene after Kent identified his inspirational leadership to rejuvenate a team that finished well clear at the County Championship’s top division last summer. Operation Promotion is already under way, although Hollioake officially begins a three-year contract on February 1.
Ahead of his first head coach role, he tells Mail Sport: ‘I’m sort of a polarising type of character. I’m sure there’ll be some people that will be like “it’s great to have him back,” and others who’ll say: “Not that a***hole!”
Adam Hollioake will return to the county scene after being appointed as Kent’s new head coach
Hollioake is an extraordinarily candid and inspirational leader, while he is a born competitor
He takes over a Kent side who endured a difficult season in 2024 across all three formats
‘That’s the way that the county scene would know me, because I wasn’t exactly an angel back in the day.
‘I handed out quite a lot of sledging, always played pretty hard, and obviously we had a fairly successful side at Surrey, so while the responses at Kent have been really positive and welcoming, I am sure there are people elsewhere that won’t be that pleased to see me.’
As a refresher, Hollioake was the leader of the last truly dominant Surrey side before the current one bagged three Championship pennants in a row. Hollioake’s trio of titles came across four seasons as part of a golden haul of nine domestic trophies, including the inaugural Twenty20 Cup in 2003.
‘I’ve never really had addictions to drugs or drinking or gambling, but I have to admit I am a bit of a sucker for the buzz of winning things,’ he says.
‘People will have probably seen that my journey since I finished playing cricket has been a bit of a rollercoaster and when I finished fighting, I was looking for something to replace the competing as an athlete. Obviously, at my age, unless I take up lawn bowls or darts, I think it’s over for me.
‘But I realised that I needed that competition in my life, and the best way that I could still be involved was coaching.’
Hollioake has spent the past few years edging back into cricket with coaching consultancy positions – most recently with Surrey last summer – but with his two of his three children now adults and the youngest, Takoda, ‘on his own path now’ as a teenage rugby player attracting interest from NRL clubs like Gold Coast Titans, the ‘oldest apprentice in the world’ was keen to make the transition from temporary to permanent status.
‘Ben dying changed my career path because I wanted to be around my parents and family after that, meaning I headed back to Australia,’ he explains.
Hollioake is a legend at Surrey for leading the club to three County Championship titles
Adam faced tragey with the death of his younger brother Ben (left) in a car accident in 2002
Hollioake (left) subsequently moved into fighting and had 14 professional bouts over four years
‘If that hadn’t happened, I’d have probably played cricket as long as I could. I was 33 and physically I probably could have gone on for another 10 years, I reckon.’
A venture into the business world proved catastrophic when the global financial crisis took the Hollioakes’ family property development company under in 2011. His response was to head into what has become his default mode. Whenever under pressure, he comes out fighting. This time, literally.
‘I didn’t really have any experience in the workforce and I didn’t have any coaching qualifications at the time, but I had been training down at the gym and I got offered the chance to fight professionally,’ he recaps.
‘At first I was like: “I don’t think so”. Then, my trainer Stephen Ng told me I would be the only international cricketer to box professionally and my ego liked the sound of that.
‘Later, because people sort of knew that I had a solid wrestling background, they were like “you should fight in MMA as well.” Again, no way, until Stephen told me I’d been offered a fight.
‘I told him it was crazy, but then he said: “You know, no one’s ever played international cricket, boxed professionally and fought in MMA.” And my ego kicked in again. Next minute, they’re locking me in a cage.’
Over four years and 14 professional bouts, he grappled around the globe until, during final preparations ‘for a minor world title fight in England,’ he was hit by a change of heart.
‘One day I decided that I didn’t want to do it any more. I didn’t want to get punched in the face again. Not even one more time. So I just stopped.’
Hollioake has spent recent years edging back into cricket with coaching consultancy positions
The 53-year-old, who has signed a three-year deal, promised that Kent will play in his image
Hollioake believes there are obvious parallels between batting and combat sports, given the amount of thinking time alone associated with each and the mental resilience required. Grief has also shaped his outlook. The loss of Graham Thorpe earlier this year was painful for him and his former Surrey team-mates, but also strengthened the bond between them.
‘The Thorpey thing brought us all back together again,’ he says. ‘Mark Butcher, myself, Ali Brown, Martin Bicknell, Thorpey, we grew up together and it shook a lot of us quite hard.
‘When you get out of cricket and see what’s really out there in the real world you realise that everyone in cricket is a good bloke.
‘If you act like an idiot, then it’s a very lonely existence. The game brings you back into line and because of that you develop a lot of friends.’
And one thing Hollioake – who played four Tests and 35 ODIs in the late 1990s and was England’s first genuine specialist limited-overs captain – can promise as his career path takes a new turn is that
‘This is professional sport, so results-wise you never know how things are going to pan out, but what I can guarantee is that we will come with attitude,’ he declares.
‘I’ll be bringing good attitude to every day and I know that people will get dragged along by that. I know that we’ll go out there every time, and we’ll have a crack. We’re not going to die wondering; we will be out there fighting.’