Wills International Cup: Hollioake high on heat and humidity (27 October 1998)
ADAM Hollioake, England's one-day captain, yesterday re-lived graphically his near collapse during the first round defeat by South Africa a few hours earlier in this knock-out mini world cup
27-Oct-1998
27 October 1998
Wills International Cup: Hollioake high on heat and humidity
By Peter Deeley in Dhaka
ADAM Hollioake, England's one-day captain, yesterday re-lived
graphically his near collapse during the first round defeat by
South Africa a few hours earlier in this knock-out mini world
cup.
When he came off after batting for two hours in almost unbearable
humidity and heat, Hollioake admitted: "I wasn't talking too much
sense or thinking clearly."
He led the side out into the field but had to come off again for
nine overs. "If I hadn't I think I would have passed out on the
spot and I didn't want that to happen in front of 40,000
spectators."
In the dressing room, Hollioake said he had "an attack of the
munchies: chocolate bars, noodles, bread. I couldn't stop eating.
Dean Conway, our physiotherapist, had to stop me.
"After that I felt on cloud nine - as if I had just smoked 10
joints. But I wasn't thinking good. I went back on and told
Graeme Hick to keep on captaining for the next two overs
otherwise I might do strange things like putting in three slips.
"The first few overs I had no idea what was going on. Dean had
told me to be careful otherwise I might end up on a drip. In the
interval, I was walking round the dressing room asking for sun
cream. Harvey [Neil Fairbrother] said, 'what are you talking
about? It's night time out there'. "
Hollioake reckoned that in the 24 hours before and after the game
here he consumed 15-20 litres of bottled water as well as special
glucose drinks. In the interval, he had sat under a cold shower
for 20 minutes.
"I don't quite know how it all happened," he said. "It was a
mixture of heat exhaustion and dehydration. There was just no
respite from it. I still feel sore all over."
The England captain admitted that with hindsight the side would
have been better served by having two recognised spinners. "We
thought the wicket would be similar to Sharjah," he said, "where
the medium-pacers were dangerous. But our attack didn't really
suit the conditions this time."
Source :: Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk)