New Kent head coach Adam Hollioake’s legendary status at rivals Surrey should be seen as a positive by Kent fans, insists director of cricket Simon Cook.
Hollioake, 53, has replaced Matt Walker at the Kent helm ahead of the 2025 season.
He enjoyed the best times of his county career during his playing days with Surrey, whom he played with for more than 10 years.
Hollioake retired from cricket at the end of the 2004 season – only to U-turn on that decision and play T20 cricket for another of Kent’s rivals in 2007 – before he hung up his boots once and for all.
Cook recalled: “He had a brief T20 stint at Essex, didn’t he? He is a Surrey legend.
“I actually see that as a positive because we have got the ability to attract a legend of the game into our club.
“I think that’s just an endorsement for us, as much as it is kind of inviting ‘the enemy’ into your own backyard.”
Hollioake even skippered Surrey for six of those years and also captained England’s one-day side but, now, will be solely focused on winning the Kent faithful over.
“He enjoyed playing against Kent,” admitted Cook. “He did acknowledge that he wound the crowd up a bit when he was playing – but that was part of him.
“He’s all-in for the teams he’s playing for and he’ll do what’s required to win games of cricket. Those qualities are great.
“Now he’s on our side of the fence, that can only be a positive.”
Hollioake spent last summer as an assistant coach at Surrey and, while he had spent some time out of county cricket prior to that, Cook says he has always kept in contact with English cricket and those involved in it.
The former Kent and Middlesex bowler said: “He’d had a bit of time out of county cricket.
“I played against him when he played for Surrey for a number of years. I know, obviously, about the death of his brother (Ben) and he kind of faded out of the game for a bit.
“But he’s always stayed in contact with the game in some way, shape or form.
“He’s done a number of coaching assignments, mainly around mentoring and skills coaching with England Lions and Pakistan. He did skills work with Afghanistan and was head coach of Hong Kong so he’s kind of been there or thereabouts.
“Last year, he was assistant coach at Surrey so he’s kind of had a year of getting up to speed with county cricket. But he’s never been far away from it, even though he’s living on the other side of the world.
“He still has lot of contacts, a lot of friends, in county cricket and he follows county cricket.
“So, he’s not brand-new.”
While the 2025 summer will be Hollioake’s first with Kent, Cook admits he’ll largely have to work with their existing squad for the time being.
“You have got players in contracts so you have got commitments to players,” he explained. “It’s not quite like football where you have a new coach come in and has a big shake-up straight away.
“It takes a while for that coach to put their stamp on the squad and how they want it to be formulated.
“You’re probably going to look at either 2026 or 2027 before you really get an idea of what an Adam Hollioake squad looks like.”
Kent’s players returned for pre-season training this week and the county will hold their media day on Friday.
