Dominant Dutchie eyes a three-peat

Nathan Lyon and Stephen O’Keefe may have solidified their positions as Australia’s No.1 and No.2 Test spinners in India, but Jon Holland put himself back in the national frame with a stirring seven-wicket haul in the Sheffield Shield final.

On a dry Traeger Park pitch that offered bowlers of all persuasions little across the first two days of the competition decider, Holland cleverly aimed his finger-spinners into the pace bowlers' footmarks to claim a career-best 7-82 on day three of the competition-decider in Alice Springs.

Quick Single: Holland spins web over hapless Redbacks

It continues a stellar summer for the 29-year-old, whose season tally of 49 Shield wickets is now not only the most for a slow bowler in more than a decade, but he’s also on the verge of the best Shield season by a left-arm orthodox spinner in half a century.

Former England Test tweaker Tony Lock, who played 74 games for Western Australia in the 1960s and early 70s, set the benchmark for left-arm offies when he took 51 wickets in the 1966-67 season.

And considering Holland has only risen to become the Bushrangers’ first-choice spinner after a match-turning haul in last year’s Shield final and a resulting Test debut against Sri Lanka in August, his stunning summer reflects some rapid improvements.

“It’s my first full season with Victoria,” Holland told reporters after play on day three with Victoria 2-38 holding a 238-run lead.

“I’ve done a lot of hard work this season and worked hard on my bowling.”

“I’ve been pretty happy (with the season), I’ve taken a few wickets.

“It always helps when you’ve got a first-class bowling attack (with) the pace attack that we have. That’s helped me a lot.”

Quick Single: Pattinson opens door for pace quartet

Last year’s Shield final, where he was picked for just his second match of the season alongside frontline leg-spinner Fawad Ahmed, set in motion an unexpected chain of events for Holland.

He took eight wickets for the match, including five in the second-innings, to help Victoria notch a second-straight Shield title.

And when O’Keefe went home from Australia’s tour of Sri Lanka with a hamstring injury, Holland was plucked from a Bushrangers pre-season in the Melbourne winter and flown into the heat of an away Test series on the subcontinent.

Forced to quickly adapt to the alien conditions – which most of his new Australia teammates failed to do in being swept 3-0 by the rampant Sri Lankans – Holland finished with five wickets at 54.80 in his two Tests.

He was overlooked for Australia’s next overseas series, in India where the hosts reclaimed the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2-1 in Dharamsala on Tuesday, with Lyon, O’Keefe along with Mitchell Swepson and Ashton Agar all deemed better slow-bowling options by the national selectors.

Despite admitting his surprise at receiving no communication from the selection panel on his omission, Holland has worked tirelessly on subtle modifications to his technique that can make him a more dangerous prospect both at home and abroad.

“Definitely,” he said when asked if those changes have made him a better bowler than he was when he made his Test debut. “I’ve done a lot of work in training and outside of games.

“I’ve learnt to bowl differently with a different action and different trajectories.

“When things aren’t happening you can turn to that when there’s a partnership building for something a little bit different.

“It’s coming out well and I’m pretty happy.”

Quick Single: Sayers silences his national naysayers

While left-arm off-spinners tend to pose a greater threat to the right-handers they spin the ball away from, Holland troubled South Australia’s left-hander heavy top-order on the third day of the Shield final.

He took the prized scalps of skipper Travis Head for a duck when he had him lbw from a sharp-turning off-break and Jake Weatherald, another leftie done by a ball that also spun more than anticipated.

He removed the Redbacks’ other two lefties as well, while he had the right-handed Callum Ferguson caught at slip in trademark fashion for a left-arm spinner.

And while he admitted pleasure at playing the destroyer in the Redbacks’ first-innings, helping deliver Victoria a third-straight Shield title would put an even bigger smile on Holland’s face.

“I’ve come here confident I could do a job for the team and today I was lucky to get a few wickets,” he said.

“I’m happy and one more win will make me even happier.”