Injured Holland ruled out for season

The Victoria spinner Jon Holland is expected to miss the rest of the season after having a shoulder reconstruction on Wednesday. Holland hurt his bowling shoulder while throwing a ball in from the outfield during a club cricket match at the weekend and the timing could hardly have been worse, after he was named by Australia's national selector John Inverarity as one of the two best spinners in the country last week.

Shane Warne was also effusive in his praise of Holland earlier this week, declaring that he had pencilled in Holland and Nathan Lyon as the two slow bowlers Australia would take on next year's Ashes tour. But Holland will now struggle to play any first-class cricket before that trip and faces the prospect of a long period out of the game.

It is not the first time Holland has had a shoulder reconstruction; he had a similar operation in early 2010, and also missed much of the 2007-08 season due to a shoulder problem. At 25, Holland has plenty of time on his side but the latest injury is a major setback for a man who could have dreamt of making his international debut this summer.

"It's disappointing news but I have come back from this before and I believe I still have a lot of good cricket ahead of me," Holland said. "I was hoping that it may have been better news, but it wasn't to be, so I'll commence my rehabilitation and I'll work hard to come back."