A decade has passed since he last played for New Zealand but for all the reminders Chris Pringle still gets about his remarkable ability with the ball, it might as well be yesterday.
Pringle, now living in Tauranga with his Dutch wife Janine and their two preschool children, is almost embarrassed
at being stopped on the street and asked to sign autographs.
"It feels like I've been out of the game for a long time now - I guess it's coming up 10 years - but I suppose it's pretty nice, when people recognise you in the street, to be reminded of those days," Pringle, who turned 37 last week, said.
The former medium-pacer played 14 tests for the Black Caps but was better know as a one-day specialist, playing 64 limited-overs internationals.
He experienced one of the most remarkable introductions into international cricket, roped in to play for New Zealand after just one season of first-class cricket in New Zealand, after ambling along to a New Zealand practice session at Headingley looking for a spare ticket.
His test career started brilliantly, bagging a career-high 11 for 52 in his third test (including 7-52 in the first innings) against Pakistan at Faisalabad.
The high point of his one-day career came in the 1990 Benson and Hedges World Series Cup.
In the last round-robin game in Hobart, and with Australia needing two runs to win in the final over, Pringle bowled a maiden to Bruce Reid to propel New Zealand into the final. Pringle, his wife and children Tim, 2, and nine month-old Caitlin, shifted to Tauranga in October. Pringle had spent most of the last decade living in The Hague in Holland
"Tauranga's a fantastic place and I've got great memories of playing here (at Blake Park) for Auckland against Northern Districts every New Year.
"We didn't want to go back to Auckland but wanted somewhere nice to raise the family after living a busy European lifestyle for the last 4-5 years. Tauranga seemed like the perfect place.
"It was a big step to move back from Europe but I'm totally rapt with it and feel totally at home."
Pringle is selling real estate at Bayfair, Oceandowns and Arataki for LJ Hooker, a career change signalled six years ago in his book Save The Last Ball For Me.
"I said back then I thought real estate would be a challenging career."
Pringle's cricketing days are gone, although he's an avid watcher and may dust off the bat to play golden oldies once his family is settled.
"I pulled the golf clubs out the other day and really enjoyed a hit and I'd say the surf beach will get a hammering too."
Chris Pringle begins a weekly cricket column, Pringle's Point, in tomorrow's Bay of Plenty Times.
A decade has passed since he last played for New Zealand but for all the reminders Chris Pringle still gets about his remarkable ability with the ball, it might as well be yesterday.
Pringle, now living in Tauranga with his Dutch wife Janine and their two preschool children, is almost embarrassed
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