 De Bruyn began his career with Transvaal cricket team (later Gauteng cricket team).However, his career only really started to prosper when he joined Easterns in 2002.Having been out of a contract at Gauteng, and without an offer of a new one, he took a part-time job in a retail clothing firm Coach Ray Jennings offered him a place in the team on a pay-as-you-play basis, and de Bruyn returned to first-class cricket.