England still expecting Hollioake to do his duty

But it now looks as if he will finish his maiden senior tour still a long way short of coming anywhere near Botham.

The Surrey all-rounder has been hailed as one of England's greatest prospects ever since he burst onto the international scene with a brilliant 63 off 48 balls against Australia at Lord's during the 1997 One-Day series.

Hollioake's failure was underlined in comparison to the ruthless manner in which stand-in captain Michael Atherton scored a career-best 205 in the tour match against a young Australian XI here.

His tour has so far yielded just 26 runs from five first-class innings since he injured his groin in the opening match against an ACB Chairman's XI at Lilac Hill in October, while his two wickets have cost 56 apiece.

``He's never really got going into the tour,'' conceded coach David Lloyd.

``We would put him down in the all-rounder category who is pushing for a place, and he's not actually done that.

``He's a little bit behind with match practice through being unfit for a fair amount of time. He doesn't give too much away and doesn't give too many signs that he frets too much.

``We understand that he's had injury problems and he's the one player who is playing catch-up, but when he has an opportunity he really has to cash in=2E''

But Lloyd stressed Hollioake's laid-back manner should not be wrongly perceived as an indication that his disappointing tour and his eagerness to succeed has not affected him.

``There are no visible signs of frustration with a bat flung or glove thrown or kicking at something. He is one who sits and reflects and goes quiet and then comes out of it -- but he needs to kick on,'' said Lloyd.

``I don't think he's the type of lad who is a confident type of player or someone who's unduly affected by having a bad run of form and getting to the stage where he's wondering where the next run is coming from.''