Derek Pringle
Encyclopedia
Derek Raymond Pringle is an English
former Test
and ODI cricket
er for England, and is now a cricket journalist
.
He was educated at Felsted School
and Fitzwilliam College
, Cambridge University
.
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. 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. His always popular warm-up routine before coming on to bowl. 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.
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
.
Derek Pringle also appeared as an extra
in the film
, Chariots of Fire
.
Pringle's interests include archaeology, photography, writing, real ale, and more obscure musical trends. Pringle also picked a track (The Soft Boys
with "I Wanna Destroy You") for Rough Trade Records
30th anniversary compilation album
.
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
former Test
Test cricket
Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...
and ODI cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
er for England, and is now a cricket journalist
Sports journalism
Sports journalism is a form of journalism that reports on sports topics and events.While the sports department within some newspapers has been mockingly called the toy department, because sports journalists do not concern themselves with the 'serious' topics covered by the news desk, sports...
.
He was educated at Felsted School
Felsted School
Felsted School, an English co-educational day and boarding independent school, situated in Felsted, Essex. It is in the British Public School tradition, and was founded in 1564 by Richard Rich, 1st Baron Rich who, as Lord Chancellor and Chancellor of the Court of Augmentations, acquired...
and Fitzwilliam College
Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge
Fitzwilliam College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Cambridge in England.The college traces its origins back to 1869 and the foundation of the Non-Collegiate Students Board, a venture intended to offer students from less financially privileged backgrounds a chance to study...
, Cambridge University
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
.
Life and career
Pringle played for EssexEssex County Cricket Club
Essex County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Essex. Its limited overs team is called the Essex Eagles, their team colours this season are blue.The club plays most of its home games...
between 1978 and 1993. He was a member of the successful sides of the 1980s and early 1990s alongside cricketers such as Graham Gooch
Graham Gooch
Graham Alan Gooch OBE DL is a former cricketer who captained Essex and England. He was one of the most successful international batsmen of his generation, and through a career spanning from 1973 until 2000, he became the most prolific run scorer of all time with 67,057 runs...
, Mark Waugh
Mark Waugh
Mark Edward Waugh AM is a former Australian cricketer, who represented Australia in Test matches from early 1991 to late 2002, and made his One-Day International debut in 1988. Waugh is regarded as one of the most elegant and gifted stroke makers to ever play the game. His nickname is "Junior" as...
, Nasser Hussain
Nasser Hussain
Nasser Hussain OBE is a former Essex and England cricketer.Beginning his career in a strong Essex side in the late 1980s, he was an outstanding fielder and a stylish but inconsistent batsman. In first-class cricket from 1987 to 2004 Hussain scored 20,698 runs in 334 matches at an average of 42.06,...
, John Lever
John Lever
John Lever MBE is an English former cricketer, who played in twenty one Tests and twenty two ODIs for England from 1976 to 1986...
and Neil Foster
Neil Foster
Neil Foster and educated at Philip Morant Comprehensive, Colchester, is a former English cricketer, who played in twenty nine Tests and forty eight ODIs for England from 1983 to 1993. He played for Essex from 1980 to 1993, earning his county cap in 1983...
. In that period Essex won the County Championship
County Championship
The County Championship is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales...
six times. Pringle as an undergraduate played for Cambridge University
Cambridge University Cricket Club
Cambridge University Cricket Club is a first-class cricket team. It now plays all but one of its first-class cricket matches as part of the Cambridge University Centre of Cricketing Excellence , which includes Anglia Ruskin University...
and was called up for England, whilst he was captain
Captain (cricket)
The captain of a cricket team often referred to as the skipper is the appointed leader, having several additional roles and responsibilities over and above those of a regular player...
in 1982. 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
Cricket World Cup
The ICC Cricket World Cup is the premier international championship of men's One Day International cricket. The event is organised by the sport's governing body, the International Cricket Council , with preliminary qualification rounds leading up to a finals tournament which is held every four years...
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
Ian Botham
Sir Ian Terence Botham OBE is a former England Test cricketer and Test team captain, and current cricket commentator. He was a genuine all-rounder with 14 centuries and 383 wickets in Test cricket, and remains well-known by his nickname "Beefy"...
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. His always popular warm-up routine before coming on to bowl. 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.
After his playing days he became a cricket correspondent firstly with The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
and then The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
.
His father, Donald Pringle
Donald Pringle
Donald James "Don" Pringle was an East African cricketer. He represented East Africa in two One day Internationals in the inaugural 1975 World Cup...
, played two matches for East Africa in the 1975 Cricket World Cup
1975 Cricket World Cup
-Group B:-Knockout stage:-Semifinals:In the best World Cup performance to date by a bowler, Gary Gilmour took six wickets as England were bowled all out for 93 , after falling to 37/7...
.
Derek Pringle also appeared as an extra
Extra (actor)
A background actor or extra is a performer in a film, television show, stage, musical, opera or ballet production, who appears in a nonspeaking, nonsinging or nondancing capacity, usually in the background...
in the film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
, Chariots of Fire
Chariots of Fire
Chariots of Fire is a 1981 British film. It tells the fact-based story of two athletes in the 1924 Olympics: Eric Liddell, a devout Scottish Christian who runs for the glory of God, and Harold Abrahams, an English Jew who runs to overcome prejudice....
.
Pringle's interests include archaeology, photography, writing, real ale, and more obscure musical trends. Pringle also picked a track (The Soft Boys
The Soft Boys
The Soft Boys were a pop band during the punk era led by Robyn Hitchcock, whose initially old fashioned music style of psychedelic/folk-rock became part of the neo-psychedelia scene with the release of Underwater Moonlight...
with "I Wanna Destroy You") for Rough Trade Records
Rough Trade Records
Rough Trade Records is an independent record label based in London. It was formed in 1978 by Geoff Travis who had opened a record store off Ladbroke Grove...
30th anniversary compilation album
Compilation album
A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
.