Tim Pringle is taking his Chennai lessons to Northern Districts

Tim Pringle had to spend an entire year on the sidelines after undergoing major ankle surgery following his appearances for Netherlands in the 2024 T20 World Cup in the USA and the Caribbean. The left-arm spinner was struck off Northern Districts' books for the 2024-25 season.

After recovering, he eased his way back with a spin camp at the Chennai Super Kings Academy in Chennai in June this year, during New Zealand's winter. He then proved his fitness and form by playing two T20Is for Netherlands in Bangladesh in September.

"Yeah [the ankle injury was one of the hardest times in my career], but I had heaps of support around me throughout the whole time," Pringle said while he was in Chennai.

Towards the end of October, Pringle is set to return for Northern Districts in the domestic season-opening Ford Trophy. He is also back on Northern Districts' contracts list. "[It's] great to get back into the [ND] environment. It's been a long grind, but the support around me has been nice."

Pringle got the ball to grip and turn on a variety of pitches in Chennai, including black and red soils, before claiming figures of 6-0-34-2 across two T20Is in Bangladesh. Bob Carter, the former New Zealand High Performance coach, who oversaw the bowler in Chennai, was impressed with Pringle's progress in the lead up to the new domestic season.

"We have a number of players - maybe not many - but a few who are what we call 'POIs'. So Tim is a Player of Interest to us," Carter said. "I think BJ [Watling, the Northern Districts coach] and Ian Sandbrook, who is the High Performance manager, have done a wonderful job getting him back to where he is with his rehab.

"These are small steps at this stage to get back onto the field. While we're here, we're able to manipulate his time on the field and what he bowls. We felt that the ball was coming out well - he's an incredibly talented left-arm spinner who can also bat. In all honesty, he was back to his normal self. He's a good worker on his game without going too over the top."

Pringle, now 23, was born in the Hague, and moved at the age of two to Tauranga, a coastal city in the Bay of Plenty region in New Zealand. His mother, Janine, is Dutch, and his father is former New Zealand bowler Chris Pringle.

The younger Pringle has already featured in two T20 World Cups for Netherlands, and New Zealand are also excited by his potential. In the 2023-24 Ford Trophy, he was among the most economical bowlers for Northern Districts. He even fronted up to bowl in T20 powerplays on small grounds in New Zealand.

Netherlands also trust him to bowl in the powerplay. His T20I economy rate of 6.47 is the second-best, behind Roelof van der Merwe, among Netherlands bowlers who have bowled at least 60 overs in the format. Carter sees him as a bowler who can operate in various phases.

"Tim has got many good traits," Carter said. "One of the traits that he has is that it [pressure] doesn't bother him. So he's prepared to bowl at that time [under pressure]. And not everyone's in that same frame of mind to do that."

Having been inspired by his father Chris, who bagged a match haul of 11 wickets in his third Test, against Pakistan in Faisalabad, with his brisk medium pace, Pringle started as a seamer before he switched to spin.

"My old man was a seamer and it was only natural that I bowled seam from a young age," Pringle said. "But it got to a point where I wasn't sort of quick and I was bowling a lot of slower balls which were turning quite a bit, so I kind of thought, around the age of 15, I could try spin, with some help from the senior boys, and it has been working for me." It worked like a charm for Netherlands when he took 3 for 20 against Nepal in Dallas in the 2024 T20 World Cup.

Pringle emerged on Netherlands' international radar more than three years ago, when he dismissed Pieter Seelar - who was their captain at the time - while playing for a New Zealand XI in a truncated one-day fixture at McLean Park in March 2022. Word then spread about his Dutch passport and three months later, he made his international debut for Netherlands in an ODI against England in Amstelveen.

"[Playing for Netherlands] wasn't on my mind [at the time]," Pringle recalled. "Pieter Seelar, who was our skipper at the time, retired. He had a bad back, which forced him into retirement, and I got the opportunity for Netherlands.

In his very first opportunity, he was up against England's big hitters and came away with the wicket of Liam Livingstone for 4. "Kind of thrown into the deep end and just had fun," Pringle said. "It was huge! I didn't have enough time to comprehend what was going on. That was a good thing in a way.

"Heaps of pride playing for Holland - my mum's side. Heaps of pride every time."

Pringle sits on the fence when asked to pick between Netherlands and New Zealand at this point, but he says his ultimate dream is to play Test cricket.

"I've played five four-day games and that's the most fun I've had on a cricket field. So it's not really a choice between Holland or New Zealand, it's more like this [four- and five-day cricket] is what I want to play."

Pringle will add to his tally when the 100th season of the Plunket Shield begins in November, but his immediate challenge is the 50-over Ford Trophy, which kicks off on October 25, when his team, Northern Districts, will face Auckland in the opener. He hopes to take the lessons from his Chennai stint into the upcoming domestic season.

"Back home in New Zealand and Holland, we only get one type of wicket, and I guess only in club cricket, you get pitches that spin, where I'm from. So to come over here and experience the conditions and work on your skills, see what the conditions are and how you adapt, it has been a great experience."