Bob Holland

In March 2017, Holland was diagnosed with an aggressive brain cancer and underwent surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. On 15 September 2017, a tribute night was hosted by Mark Taylor. A number of former teammates including Greg Matthews, Trevor Chappell, Wayne Phillips and Murray Bennett were in attendance. However, Holland suddenly deteriorated and died on 17 September 2017, just two days after the event. He passed away peacefully at the Mater Hospital in Newcastle.

In August 2016, Holland and his wife were assaulted and hospitalised in Lake Macquarie. Holland had asked a man and a woman to stop riding motorcycles on the cricket ground where he volunteered as a curator. The pair were later arrested, found guilty, and jailed.

Holland was a civil engineering surveyor, and was married to Carolyn, with three adult children named Craig, Rohan and Naomi. Rohan was named in honour of his cricketing hero, Rohan Kanhai, the former West Indian cricketer. Robert had five grandchildren. One of his grandchildren, Thomas Holland, was selected in 2014 as a high-school student to represent Australia in baseball (Under-15s).

In September 2006, Holland celebrated his 60th birthday with a celebrity cricket match with former teammates.

"I found I was very tired towards the end of last season," said Holland in October 1986. "I lost that bit of zip in my bowling, I was not doing enough to get people out, I was not spinning the ball as much."

At the beginning of the 1986–87 summer, Holland expressed interest in being available for Australian selection. He was not picked; the selectors preferred Greg Matthews, Peter Sleep and Peter Taylor.

He was selected for the 1985 Ashes tour to England, but only had sporadic success. In the ODIs, he played only in the first match at Manchester. He took his only ODI wickets with 2/49 as Australia won, but was the most expensive bowler and was dropped.

He had another highlight upon his return to Australia for the 1985–86 season. After conceding 106 runs without success in the First Test as Australia lost by an innings, Holland took a 10 wicket match haul against New Zealand at the SCG, as Australia took a four wicket win to avoid being whitewashed by their neighbours. He took 6/106 in the first innings to reduce New Zealand to 9/169 before 4/68 in the second ensured Australia was able to chase the target.

Holland began the 1984–85 Shield comp well with four wickets against South Australia.

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.

His bowling was marked by use of flight, a disciplined length and a variety of leg breaks, topspinners, and a googly that was used relatively sparsely. He took 316 wickets at 31.16 in 95 first-class matches. His batting was poor, averaging 9.67 at first-class level. He made five successive Test ducks—dubbed an "Olympic" due to the five naughts looking like the Olympic rings, an unfortunate Test record he jointly holds with Ajit Agarkar and Mohammad Asif—in a career yielding 35 runs at an average of 3.18, but his defiantly resistance effort in the 1984–85 Shield final helped ensure a New South Wales triumph.

Holland played for NSW in the 1979-80 season. He took four wickets against Queensland, five against Victoria seven against Tasmania, three against the touring English and five against South Australia.

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.

Holland made his Shield debut in 1978–79, taking 1-113 against Queensland. It was the only first-class game he played that summer, the selectors preferring David Hourn and Graeme Beard to be the NSW spinners.

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

Robert George Holland OAM (19 October 1946 – 17 September 2017) was a New South Wales and Australian cricketer. He was, because of his surname, nicknamed "Dutchy".