Pierre de Bruyn

Pierre de Bruyn (born 31 March 1977) is a South African former cricketer. Having made his debut in first-class cricket in the 1995-96 South African cricket season, de Bruyn proceeded to play first-class, one-day and Twenty20 cricket for several teams as an all-rounder and occasional wicket-keeper until his retirement during the 2009-10 South African cricket season. Following his retirement, he moved into coaching. He was appointed the head coach of English county side Leicestershire in 2016, before resigning the following year. In December 2018, he was appointed as the head coach of the Namibia national cricket team.

Pierre de Bruyn

Personal information
Full name	Pierre de Bruyn
Born	31 March 1977 Pretoria, Transvaal Province, South Africa
Batting	Right-handed
Bowling	Right-arm fast-medium
Role	Occasional wicket-keeper
Relations	Ettiene de Bruyn (twin-brother)
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1995/96	Northern Transvaal B
1995/96	Northern Transvaal
1997/98–1998/99	Northerns B
1997/98–2006/07	Northerns
1999/00–2004/05	Easterns
2003	Norfolk
2004/05–2007/08	Titans
2008/09–2009/10	Dolphins
2008/09–2009/10	KwaZulu-Natal
Career statistics
Competition FC LA T20 Matches 91 108 28 Runs scored 4,637 1,791 286 Batting average 37.09 29.85 26.00 100s/50s 10/23 1/9 –/– Top score 202 111* 44* Balls bowled 6,882 2,934 217 Wickets 108 60 12 Bowling average 29.63 38.11 21.25 5 wickets in innings 3 – – 10 wickets in match – – – Best bowling 6/38 4/28 4/11 Catches/stumpings 87/– 54/4 12/2
Source: Cricinfo, 23 August 2011

Early life and cricket career

de Bruyn was born at Pretoria, where he was educated at Zwartkop High School. He made his debut in first-class cricket for Northern Transvaal B against Transvaal B in the 1995-96 UCB Bowl at the Wanderers.[1] He scored his maiden first-class century in 1997, batting alongside his twin-brother Ettiene de Bruyn for Northerns B. They shared a stand of 88 in Northerns first-innings, with de Bruyn making 103.[2] He played solely first-class cricket up to 2000,[1] before making his debut in List A one-day cricket for Easterns against a touring England XI.[3] He played cricket in England in 2003, appearing for Norfolk in a one-day match in the 1st round of the Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy against Lincolnshire.[3]

He played first-class and one-day cricket for the Titans franchise between 2005 and 2007,[1][3] as well as making his Twenty20 debut for the franchise against the Lions in the 2004-05 Standard Bank Pro20 Series.[4] He later moved franchises to the Dolphins for the 2007-08 season having been released from his contract with the Titans, moving along with Alfonso Thomas.[5] He played all three formats for the Dolphins until the 2009-10 season,[1][3][4] as well as appearing in first-class and one-day cricket for KwaZulu-Natal Inland in the 2008-09 and 2009-10 seasons.[1][3] He retired from playing during the 2009-10 season, having been released from his contract by the Dolphins before the conclusion of the season.[6]

He played a total of 91 first-class matches, scoring 4,637 runs at an average of 37.09, while with his right-arm fast-medium bowling he took 108 wickets at 29.85 apiece.[6] In one-day cricket he played 108 matches, scoring 1,791 runs at an average of 29.85 and a high score of 111 not out,[7] while with the ball he took 60 wickets at 38.11 apiece.[6] Uniquely in Twenty20 matches, de Bruyn played three roles as a batsman, bowler and wicket-keeper in the same match.[6]

Coaching career

Following his retirement, he moved into coaching, taking up the post of director of cricket at the University of Pretoria.[6] He replaced Andrew McDonald as head coach of Leicestershire in August 2016, having worked with the county as the Second XI and Assistant Skills Coach since the winter of 2015.[8] With Leicestershire bottom of the County Championship in 2017 and with unresolvable dressing room tensions, de Bruyn quit as head coach with immediate effect in September 2017,[9] with Graeme Welch and John Sadler replacing him in the interim.[10]

In December 2018, he was appointed as head coach of the Namibia national cricket team, replacing Dee Thakur.[11] He took up the post in January 2019. His first engagement will be the 2019 ICC World Cricket League Division Two tournament in April 2019.[11]

References

1. "First-Class Matches played by Pierre de Bruyn". CricketArchive. Retrieved 2019-03-08.
2. "Northerns B v Western Province B, UCB Bowl 1997/98 (Division One)". CricketArchive. Retrieved 2019-03-08.
3. "List A Matches played by Pierre de Bruyn". CricketArchive. Retrieved 2019-03-08.
4. "Twenty20 Matches played by Pierre de Bruyn". CricketArchive. Retrieved 2019-03-21.
5. "Alfonso Thomas and Pierre de Bruyn sign for Dolphins". ESPNcricinfo. 2008-01-19. Retrieved 2019-03-21.
6. "Retirement of Pierre de Bruyn". Independent Online. 2010-03-24. Retrieved 2018-03-21.
7. "Player profile: Pierre de Bruyn". CricketArchive. Retrieved 2019-03-21.
8. "de Bruyn named as Head Coach". Leicestershire County Cricket Club. 2016-08-26. Retrieved 2019-03-09.
9. Dobell, George (2017-09-03). "De Bruyn quits as Leicestershire coach". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 2019-03-09.
10. Paul, Joe (2017-09-03). "Leicestershire CCC part company with head coach Pierre de Bruyn with immediate effect". Leicester Mercury. Retrieved 2018-03-21.
11. "Pierre de Bryun appointed Namibia head coach". ESPNcricinfo. 2018-12-01. Retrieved 2018-12-01.

External links

• Pierre de Bruyn at ESPNcricinfo