Australia's number two Test spinner Jon Holland has been ruled out of the 2012-13 season with a shoulder injury.
Holland, 25, suffered the injury on Saturday while fielding for Frankston-Peninsula in Victoria's Premier Cricket competition and was initially hopeful that it would not require major surgery.
That was unavoidable though as the left-armer - who has already undergone two operations on the same shoulder - went under the knife on Wednesday for an operation that will see him miss the entire 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 told the Victoria Bushrangers website.
"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."
Victoria coach Greg Shipperd said he expected Holland to need a six-to-seven-month recovery period.
But he backed his spinner to return better than ever and said Holland still had a chance of playing in next year's Ashes series in England if Australia were prepared to gamble on him.
"The surgeons had quite a bit of repair to do inside and it'll take him some time to recover," Shipperd said.
"It's been a tragic time for him given that he was rapidly improving and has been quite close to obviously higher honours.
"So we feel for him but he's still a young man, a lot of cricket ahead of him.
"He's a character that'll bounce back. He's been through it before and as disappointing as this is, he understands that there's light at the end of the tunnel."
Holland took 24 wickets in eight Sheffield Shield matches for Victoria last season at an average of 29.45 and caught the eye of chairman of selectors John Inverarity on Australia A's tour of England in July and August.
