Derek Pringle is a large man in stature and in achievement. By far the most talented university cricketer of his generation, Derek went on to play first class cricket for Essex for over 15 years, and for England for over a decade. In the course of his playing career he notched up countless domestic titles for Essex, not to mention competing in the international side that went all the way to the Cricket World Cup Final in 1992. He has subsequently hung up his spikes and instead comments on the game from the boundaries: first for the Independent on Sunday and more recently for the Daily Telegraph. Quite the cricketing credentials.

When I met up with him this week, it was hard not to be a little overwhelmed by him: he is, after all, 6’5’’ tall, and not a slight figure by any stretch of the imagination. Derek seemed absurdly cramped, hunched over a small table in Fitzbillies, his frame far better designed for wide open spaces than for tea drinking. By the time he left school he was already under contract for Essex and played for them every university vacation; in his words “it was a nice little extra pocket money during term time.”

Cricket was, quite understandably, Derek’s priority during his Cambridge career: he changed from Geography to Land Economy for his part II Tripos solely to avoid a vacation dissertation. He admitted to me that his cricketing commitments were something of a relief as he had an excuse to never spend any time in the library. Perhaps not his DoS’s favourite student, Pringle was certainly a shining star in Cambridge sport: a century in his debut Varsity match at Lords showed his talent, and later, under his 4th year captaincy, the Blues beat Lancashire’s 1st XI, much to the dismay of their captain, a certain David ‘Bumble’ Lloyd.

Pringle was still an undergraduate when he got his international call up, which meant that he didn’t actually get to play in his last Varsity match, although I don’t think he was that bothered about it: “I’d literally just finished my finals that same day, when the Chairman of Selectors rang me up. I thought it was my mate prank calling me so I told him to piss off!” Luckily for Pringle, the Chairman rang back and his England career reached great heights over the next decade until he retired completely in 1993. In his time, Derek Pringle mixed with some of the greats of the game, not least Graham Gooch, with whom he played for Essex and his country. Pringle also took part in some epic encounters. The English win over the West Indies in 1991 at Headingly marked the highlight of Derek’s career.

Pringle managed an almost fluid transition into sports journalism. Having already started writing while still a player he moved quickly on the Independent on Sunday full time. When asked whether he found the transition from playing to commenting on others difficult, Derek shrugs, “It’s quite similar really, going out to cover a tour is just like playing but without the exercise: the same old crowd to hang out with, but in the box not on the pitch.”

Commenting on cricket means lots of travel for Pringle, something which he says he’s beginning to enjoy less: “Queues and security are taking some of the fun out of it.” Though it doesn’t look as though he’ll be stopping any time soon, after all, he’s good at what he does and obviously still loves it.

Simon Allen