England stars hold Ben tribute

David Lloyd13 April 2012

Mark Butcher spent much of today working on his own tribute to Ben Hollioake and wishing he was several thousand miles away in Perth with the mourners.

Butcher was unable to attend this afternoon's memorial service for his 24-year-old Surrey and England team-mate because of the difficulty of getting to and from Western Australia quickly enough.

Rather than try to draw up a priority list for the few airline seats available, England sent captain Nasser Hussain to Perth to represent the squad, which is still struggling to come to terms with the death of a colleague who was in New Zealand as a member of the one-day party last month.

"I don't think any of it has really sunk in yet," said Butcher.

Missing today's service was especially hard on Butcher and county colleagues Graham-Thorpe and Mark Ramprakash. Almost every other member of Surrey's first-team squad has flown from England to Perth. Butcher said: "They are nearly all there and it's a great shame we couldn't be with them. Everyone in this squad knew Ben, some better than others, and I think everyone is finding it difficult."

Tomorrow, Butcher and Co will spend the morning preparing for Saturday's final Test against New Zealand.

At 2pm local time, however, they will gather together for their own private ceremony to coincide with Hollioake's funeral service in Perth. Butcher, a talented guitarist and singer, will lead the way.

"I have a couple of songs in mind," he said, suggesting that 'My Life' by the Beatles was a candidate. "If we can't get to Perth then the next best thing is to have this ceremony for all the players here."

Hussain not only took Hollioake's England blazer to Perth but also carried sympathy cards and a letter, written by manager Phil Neale on behalf of the whole squad, to give to the player's family.

Meanwhile, New Zealand wicketkeeper Adam Parore, who fell out with the selectors earlier this month, has confirmed he is to retire after this week's Test. The 31-year-old is understood to be considering business opportunities.

Tears at Hollioake's funeral
Australians call off tour to Zimbabwe

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in