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Former Australian cricket Bob ‘Dutchy’ Holland was allegedly bashed. Picture: Ten Eyewitness News
A FORMER Australian Test cricketer has allegedly been savagely bashed alongside his wife.
Bob “Dutchy†Holland was at a cricket oval where he volunteers for a small club in Lake Macquarie in the NSW Hunter Region on Saturday when he was attacked by two people riding dirt bikes around the oval.
Police allege Holland, 69, asked the riders to leave but they became aggressive.
A 31-year-old man and 21-year-old woman aggressively attacked Holland and his wife, Caroline, and the man rode the bike towards Holland’s wife, allegedly hitting her and knocking her to the ground.
When Holland went to help his wife, he was allegedly punched by the man and brutally assaulted.
Holland’s wife, 68, was then allegedly attacked by the woman before the dirt bike riders stole their phones and fled the scene.
Bob ‘Dutchy’ Holland had some teeth knocked loose during an alleged attack. Picture: Ten Eyewitness NewsSource:Channel 10
The leg-spinner bowler was meant to be competing in a cricket legends tour next year but he told Ten Eyewitness News he is not sure if he’ll ever bowl again.
“I told him, I said, ‘You know, watch my arm, be careful of my arm.’ At that point he gave me a kick in the arm,†he said.
Ten reported Holland got a black eye and a busted lip and some teeth were being held together with glue.
His wife reportedly suffered from broken ribs as a result of the alleged attack.
The couple’s son Craig Holland told Ten his mother was traumatised.
“Mum’s really struggling, she needs assistance to get out of bed — really shook up, crying when she thinks and talks about it,†he said.
Bob ‘Dutchy’ Holland during his cricketing career.Source:News Corp Australia
Holland, a cricketer from the 80s, spent most of his playing career in Newcastle and had his Test debut when he was 38, becoming the oldest Australian to enter Test cricket in more than half a century.
Officers from Lake Macquarie Local Area Command have investigated the alleged assault and went to a home on Heaton Street in Awaba, a suburb in Lake Macquarie, and arrested the pair allegedly on the dirt bike.
They were taken to Belmont Police Station and charged with two counts of aggravated robbery and inflict actual bodily harm and one count of common assault.
They were granted conditional bail to appear at Belmont Local Court on Tuesday 13 September 2016.