Ringwood star all-rounder Ian Holland suffers punctured lung while visiting massage therapist

A top Victorian cricketer has been struck down with a punctured lung he says he suffered during a visit to a masseur.

Ringwood captain Ian Holland. Picture: Mark Dadswell/AAP

A top Victorian cricketer has been struck down with a punctured lung he says he suffered at a visit to a masseur.

Ian Holland, captain of Premier club Ringwood and a first-class player in the UK, went to a massage therapist last Tuesday for a routine “freshen-up’’.

But hours later the champion all-rounder found himself short of breath while playing in the Victorian Super Slam fixture against Dandenong.

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It was then that the 28-year-old “sorta knew something was up”.

“I was quite short of breath and I thought it might have been muscle spasms but I knew something wasn’t quite right, being that short of breath out on the cricket field,” Holland, 28, said.

“I’ve never experienced that before but at that stage I just thought it was muscle spasms and got on with it.”

But hospital scans the next morning revealed the extent of the injury.

Star Ringwood CC and @vicpremcricket allrounder Ian Holland out injured with a punctured lung he suffered while visiting a massage therapist during the week. ‘Went in for a regulation freshen-up and ended up in hospital two days later,’ he said. ‘Bit of a shock’.

— Paul Amy (@PaulAmy375) January 19, 2019

He then spent a night in Maroondah Hospital on an oxygen tank.

Holland said he suffered the bizarre injury while receiving dry needling, and was shocked when told the news.

Ian Holland sends one down the ground. Picture: Mark Dadswell/AAP

“Having your lung punctured on a masseuse table … I went for a regulation freshen-up to get the body feeling good, and ended up in hospital a couple of days later,’’ he said.

The consequences could have been dire if the puncture hadn’t been diagnosed, he said.

“The worst-case scenario is the lung collapses if I’d done a lot of physical activity and stressed the lungs and made them work hard,” he said.

“Potentially it could have been pretty nasty.

“Luckily I got through Tuesday and Wednesday unscathed, and now I know what it is so I’ve got to make sure I do the right thing by my body and let it heal.

“The lung will repair itself. I’ve just got to make sure I don’t be too physically active for the next couple of weeks and just keep my heart rate nice and low and just not stress the body.

“I’ve got to let that lung repair itself, settle down and I’ll be fine.”

The 28-year-old is a strong fancy for Premier Cricket’s best-player award, the Ryder Medal, this season.

He has hit 577 runs, including two centuries and two half-centuries, and taken 18 wickets.

In Round 10 against Frankston Peninsula he crunched what is believed to be a competition one-day record when he smacked 199 not out, complementing it with 3-16 off five overs.

Ian Holland is one of the stars of Premier Cricket. Picture: Stuart Milligan

Holland won the Ryder in 2014-15, the season he also won the John Scholes Medal as player of the grand final.

He expects to be on the sidelines for at least two weeks.

“I’ve just got to put the feet up for a bit of the year and I’ll be fine,” he said.

“Symptoms-wise, everything has got better each day so I just need to listen to the body and make sure I get the right advice and go from there.”

Holland made his first-class debut for Victoria in 2015-16 and, having an English father and holding a UK passport, is now playing County cricket for Hampshire.

In his last match for Hampshire he took 3-48 against Lancashire.

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