England's captain to attend Hollioake funeral

Nasser Hussain will represent the England team at the memorial service for Ben Hollioake in Perth, after the team decided to minimise the disruption to the squad before the final Test against New Zealand.

As a result of lengthy meetings following the news of Hollioake's death in a car accident, England have decided that Hussain should be their representative. He will fly out of Auckland tomorrow morning to attend the memorial service in Perth, and return on Thursday evening, giving him 24 hours to recover ahead of England's final Test of the winter at Eden Park.

"A few of the guys wanted to go, but logistically this was not possible. As captain, Nasser is the appropriate person to go," said the England coach, Duncan Fletcher.

"I think it's appropriate that as the captain of the squad, that he represents the side and he'll be going and coming back before the Test starts."

The rest of the England team will hold a private ceremony in Auckland to coincide with the cremation in Perth on Thursday. They will wear their England blazers and ties while Mark Butcher, a Surrey team-mate of Hollioake's, has been asked by Fletcher to sing a song with his guitar.

"We've asked Butch to sing a song of his choice because I think that will go down quite well," added Fletcher.

"We had a meeting about this when we arrived in Auckland today because we haven't really had time to discuss it properly."

Hussain will join the majority of Surrey's first-team squad at the service, with Alec Stewart, Ian Ward, Ian Salisbury, Alex Tudor, Nadeem Shahid, Martin Bicknell, Matt Church, Ally Brown, Ed Giddins and coach Keith Medlycott also confirming their attendance.

The club's president, former prime minister John Major, will also be present. The chairman of selectors, David Graveney, will represent the England and Wales Cricket Board.

Hussain will give Hollioake's England blazer to the family, after it had been left in New Zealand with a member of the backroom staff to take home while he went on a short holiday after the one-day series.