Pierre de Bruyn

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]

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 was the 2019 ICC World Cricket League Division Two tournament in April 2019.[11] Namibia finished 4th in the tournament after a loss to The Netherlands, but it was enough to qualify for their first-ever ICC T20 World Cup and first ICC tournament since the 2003 ICC ODI World Cup.[12]

De Bruyn was head coach of Namibia when they won their first-ever match at an ICC World Cup when they beat The Netherlands by 6 wickets at the 2021 ICC T20 World Cup in Abu Dhabi on 20 October 2021.[13]

• Pierre de Bruyn at ESPNcricinfo