THE funeral for Robert Holland will be held this Thursday at Christ Church Cathedral, The Hill, in Newcastle.
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Toronto Workers Cricket Club members will form a guard of honour after the service, which is scheduled to start at 2.30pm.
Club president Aaron Gray said members would wear their club shirts “with pride and recognition of our greatest clubman, player, and life member”.
Holland had been fighting an aggressive brain tumour when he passed away on September 17.
Two nights earlier, the former Test leg-spinner had been the guest of honour at a fundraising evening for brain cancer at Toronto Workers Club.
The cricket club issued a detailed statement on Holland’s passing, and a tribute written by life member Greg Singleton.
“Robert will always be remembered as the greying, knuckle-licking, almost apologetic little leggie who debuted for Australia at age 38 against the legendary West Indies line-up of the mid-80s,” Mr Singleton said.
“In the Sydney test he took 10 wickets and won man of the match honours along with a ticket to England to compete in an Ashes series.”
As a boy, Holland grew up in Morisset, and debuted for Southern Lakes in third grade at age 14 in 1960.
“He made first grade the following season and over the next 50 years and beyond he was a source of inspiration for the many hundreds of Southern Lakes cricketers fortunate enough to play and practice alongside him.”
Holland played only two seasons away from Toronto.
One was with the Bankstown club in Sydney where he famously played alongside the teenage tearaways Jeff Thomson and Lennie Pascoe.
He also played a season in Grafton after he was transferred early in his professional life.
“In all, Robert played 440 grade matches for Southern Lakes - 317 in first grade and later a further 80 in second grade,” Singleton said.
“In first grade he took 799 wickets at an average of 17.8 and remains as the club’s fifth highest run scorer.”