Test player back in the local game
GOLD Coast-based former English Test cricketer Adam Hollioake will return to coaching, joining an all-star staffing shuffle in the grassroots game.
Queensland Cricket has appointed former England captain and all-rounder Hollioake to its coaching staff for the 2018-19 season.
Hollioake will work as the assistant coach (pathways) alongside John Davison, as well as take on the role as head coach of the Queensland under-17 team and assistant coach of the Queensland Under-19 team.
Former Queensland and Heat pace bowler Alister McDermott, 27, who spent time at the Gold Coast Dolphins, will take on the coaching reins at Wynnum-Manly.
Former teammate Nathan Reardon – who lined up for Surfers in Cricket Gold Coast last season – will be McDermott’s assistant.
The changes come after another ex-Bull, batsman Jerry Cassell, recently took over at Gold Coast this season.
The Bulls will play a series of intra-squad Queensland practice games at Bill Pippen Oval on the Coast next week.
The Australian-born Hollioake captained Surrey from 1997 until 2003, winning three county championships, as well as leading England in 14 oneday internationals.
He played four Tests in a career that spanned 173 firstclass matches and 284 one-day games for England, Surrey and Essex.
Hollioake had a post-cricket career that involved stints as a professional boxer and mixed martial arts fighter.
Meanwhile, former Australian coach John Buchanan is heading back to Premier Cricket for the first time in 25 years, taking up the reins at Brisbane club Wests.
“I was talking to (former Wests and Queensland fast bowler) Greg Rowell and he asked ‘did I know anyone who would be interested’,” he said.