- Derek Pringle
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Derek Pringle Personal information Full name Derek Raymond Pringle Born 18 September 1958
Nairobi, KenyaNickname Mr Derek Height 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) Batting style Right-hand batsman Bowling style Right-arm medium Role Bowler Relations DJ Pringle (father) International information National side England Test debut 10 June 1983 v India Last Test 6 August 1992 v Pakistan ODI debut 17 July 1982 v Pakistan Last ODI 21 May 1993 v Australia Domestic team information Years Team 1978–1993 Essex 1982 MCC 1979–1982 Cambridge University Career statistics Competition Test ODI FC List A Matches 30 44 295 317 Runs scored 695 425 9243 4873 Batting average 15.10 23.61 28.26 25.92 100s/50s –/1 –/– 10/48 –/29 Top score 63 49* 128 81* Balls bowled 5287 2379 45139 15410 Wickets 70 44 761 383 Bowling average 35.97 38.11 28.26 27.14 5 wickets in innings 3 – 25 5 10 wickets in match – n/a 3 n/a Best bowling 5/95 4/42 7/18 5/12 Catches/stumpings 10/– 11/– 154/– 87/– Source: CricketArchive, 7 September 2008 Derek Raymond Pringle (born 18 September 1958, Nairobi, Kenya)[1] is an English former Test and ODI cricketer for England, and is now a cricket journalist.
He was educated at Felsted School and Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge University.
Life and career
Pringle played for Essex between 1978 and 1993. He was a member of the successful sides of the 1980s and early 1990s alongside cricketers such as Graham Gooch, Mark Waugh, Nasser Hussain, John Lever and Neil Foster. In that period Essex won the County Championship six times. Pringle as an undergraduate played for Cambridge University and was called up for England, whilst he was captain in 1982.[1] Pringle went on to play thirty Tests until 1992, scoring 695 runs and taking 70 wickets. He also played in 44 ODIs between 1982 and 1993. He appeared in two World Cups including England's 1992 Cup Final team.
Derek Pringle's career can probably be best summed up in phases.
Phase 1 - Early Days in Botham's Shadow
Picked for the first time in 1982, he played several test matches that summer with Ian Botham in the same side. The selectors feeling that faster bowling was more likely to trouble the 1982 tourists (India and Pakistan) than spin. Pringle toured Australia in 1982-83 but failed to hold his place in 1983.
Phase 2 - England's all-rounder
By the summer of 1986, Ian Botham had been banned for 3 months for smoking Cannabis. Pringle was therefore elevated to fulfill Botham's role. Far from being Pringle's fault, 1986 was probably one of the worst years for English test cricket. Pringle played in the first three match series of the summer bowling adequately but being exposed against the Indian spin attack - particularly Maninder Singh.
With Botham returning for the last test of the year at the Oval, Pringle was dropped and did not make the 1986-87 Australian tour. He did not return to the side until the following winter tour to Asia for the World Cup as Botham had decided not to tour. Pringle's style of bowling proved to be unsuccessful on dead Asian pitches - in particular he went for 83 runs against West Indies in Gujranwala in the World Cup and did not play another game in that tournament.
By the turn of the year, Pringle lost his place to another aspiring all-rounder: David Capel from Northampton who played in the Bicentennary test in Sydney as well as the entirely dull test series in New Zealand. Again recalled for the home series against West Indies in 1988, Pringle took immediate action by taking 5 wickets in the Texaco Trophy series and making a crucial 39 in the second game at Leeds which proved to be the difference between the two teams. Arguably that game was Pringle's highest point.
Again he bowled adequately in the first two tests (Ian Botham being out for the season after his back operation) but, batting at 6, was exposed against the firepower of the West Indies fast attack in the first two tests. David Capel replaced him for Old Trafford but a poor performance from Capel saw Pringle recalled again for Leeds where he took 5 wickets. He took several more at the Oval in the fifth test and briefly captained the team from the evening of the third day after Graham Gooch had sustained a serious finger injury attempting to take a catch at first slip from Desmond Haynes. England went on to lose the game.
There was no winter tour in 1988-89 but the "in out" nature of Pringle's selection began again in 1989. Botham and Pringle played together in the Texaco Trophy but Ian Botham sustained a facial injury facing Steve Barwick. On a very flat pitch at Leeds (much unlike the previous year) Pringle was one of four bowlers put to the sword by the Australian batsmen. He was dropped until the final test of the series at The Oval where he took four wickets in the Australian first innings - England's most successful bowler. For the following winter tour to the West Indies, the England selectors pursued a youth policy which did not include Pringle. Chris Lewis became England's new all-rounder.
Phase 3 - "Pring the Swing"
As so often happened around this time, England's youth policy was not long lasting and Pringle was back in the England team by the beginning of the 1991 season - again against the West Indies. In the interim, Pringle had made a clear change to his bowling style - slightly slowing down and swinging the ball. In this new style, he proved highly effective throughout the 1991 Test Series against the West Indies. On a lively Headingley pitch, his style took wickets and proved hard to score against. He took 5 wickets at Lord's and shared a big partnership with Chris Lewis in the second innings at Edgbaston. With Botham returning from the wilderness for the final test of that series - Pringle was dropped again.
For the following winter tour 1991-92, Pringle bowled tightly in the test series in New Zealand and was a star in the following World Cup. Opening the bowling in every game, he produced tidy figures in every match - particularly in the World Cup Final.
The English home season of 1992 saw Botham and Pringle play together in the test side initially but both did not last long. Botham played his last test at Lord's and Pringle was dropped until the Leeds test match. Again Pringle was instrumental in England's win at Leeds but the selectors persisted with Pringle for the Oval. By this stage, Pringle was beginning to be easier to play on flat pitches but an excellent opponent when there was anything in the pitch. On a very true fast bouncy surface at the Oval Pringle looked highly playable and his final bow on a test match field saw him having his off stump flattened by Wasim Akram. He was not chosen to tour India in 1992-93 but did make the Texaco Trophy side for 1993 against Australia. Failing to make the test side, he retired shortly after.
He is now a cricket writer.
Pringle had eclectic tastes in fashion and music in comparison to his team-mates, and eventually became a cult figure late in his career.[1] His always popular warm-up routine before coming on to bowl.[2] involved him lying on his back and apparently wrestling with an invisible octopus. He once damaged his back when his chair collapsed, forcing him to withdraw from a Test match, although the story usually (but wrongly) told is that he sustained the injury whilst writing a letter.[3]
After his playing days he became a cricket correspondent firstly with The Independent and then The Daily Telegraph.
His father, Donald Pringle, played two matches for East Africa in the 1975 Cricket World Cup.[1]
Derek Pringle also appeared as an extra in the film, Chariots of Fire.[4]
Pringle's interests include archaeology, photography, writing, real ale, and more obscure musical trends.[1] Pringle also picked a track (The Soft Boys with "I Wanna Destroy You") for Rough Trade Records 30th anniversary compilation album.
References
- ^ a b c d e Bateman, Colin (1993). If The Cap Fits. Tony Williams Publications. pp. 134–135. ISBN 1-869833-21-X.
- ^ "The Day I Lost it" - The Daily Telegraph
- ^ "You're not going to believe this, but ...". Cricinfo. http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/columns/content/story/280403.html.
- ^ "Cast of 'Chariots of Fire'". IMDB. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082158/fullcredits#cast.
External links
- Player profile: Derek Pringle from ESPNcricinfo
- Player Profile: Derek Pringle from CricketArchive
- Derek Pringle's column archive, The Daily Telegraph
- Rough Trade Records: Telegraph.co.uk Pop CD's of the week - Various The Record Shop: 30 Years of Rough Trade Shops
England squad – 1987 Cricket World Cup (runners up) 
England squad – 1992 Cricket World Cup (runners-up) Categories:- 1958 births
- Living people
- Old Felstedians
- Alumni of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge
- Cambridge University cricketers
- England One Day International cricketers
- England Test cricketers
- English cricketers of 1969 to 2000
- English cricketers
- Essex cricketers
- English journalists
- English sportswriters
- Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers
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