Bob Holland

Robert George Holland OAM (born 19 October 1946 in Camperdown, Sydney) is a former New South Wales and Australian cricketer. He was, because of his surname, nicknamed "Dutchy".

On the 26th of January Mr Holland received the Order Of Australia award.

Holland, who spent the majority of his cricketing life in Newcastle, was a late bloomer, and his Test debut aged 38 made him the oldest Australian debutant in more than half a century. It was not until the 1978–79 season, aged 32, that the New South Wales selectors called up Holland to continue the state’s long tradition of leg spin bowling. He quickly formed an integral part of the bowling attack that made the state the dominant domestic team in the Sheffield Shield in the 1980s. Forming a spin oriented attack with Murray Bennett (left arm orthodox) and Greg Matthews (off spin), Holland was part of the team that won the Sheffield Shield in 1982–83, 1984–85 and 1985–86. Holland finished his first class career with a season with Wellington in New Zealand’s domestic league.

When Holland was 15 he met Colin McCool, the player coach at Bemont Club.

When Holland was 19 he played for Northern NSW against Mike Smiths' 1965-66 MCC team.

He represented Northern NSW in 1975-76 against the touring West Indian side as an opening batsman.

Holland made his Test debut in the Second Test of the 1984–85 Australian season against the West Indies cricket team in Brisbane. He was relatively unsuccessful, taking 2/97 and scoring 6 and 0 as Australia suffered an eight wicket defeat. He was retained for the Third Test in Adelaide, but after taking match figures of 2/163, he was dropped. Holland went back to New South Wales and continued the form which had gained him Test selection in the first place. This included a tour match victory over the West Indies, after which both Holland and Bennett were selected for the Fifth Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground. The selectors had felt that the uncertain performance of the Caribbean batsmen during the tour match showed that they had a weakness against spin bowling, and introduced a "horses for courses" spin oriented attack on a dry Sydney pitch. The West Indies had crushed Australian opposition throughout the summer, winning the first three Tests by an innings, eight wickets and 191 runs respectively. Furthermore, in the fourth Test, Australia had slumped to 8/198 chasing 370 to narrowly avoid defeat when time ran out. With pundits expecting another Australian failure, they won the toss and amassed 9/471. The West Indies were reduced to be all out for 163, with Holland taking 6/54 including Viv Richards, Desmond Haynes, Larry Gomes and captain Clive Lloyd. Forced to follow on, they fell for 253 in the second innings with Holland taking 4/90 to complete a ten wicket match haul. The New South Wales pair perplexed the tourists, taking 15 of the 20 wickets, as Australia took an unexpected innings victory. Following his spin success at the SCG, he was selected to make his ODI debut on the same ground against the same team in the subsequent triangular tournament. With 0/50, he was the most expensive bowler in the match and did not play again in the season.