'When life offers an opportunity, you have to take it'

I was a rubbish cricketer until I was about 18 or 19. I was keen, I worked hard and I loved the game. But I really wasn't very good.

I had an understanding, though, that if I took my opportunities, I could progress. And, such was my love for the game, it rarely felt like hard work. I loved playing. I loved training. I loved every stage of my journey in the sport.

I don't know if I was brave or stupid when I left home in South Africa as a teenager to go and take my chance in England. I had never travelled and there were no guarantees of success. I had been offered £2,000 for a season of club cricket with Cannock in the Birmingham League.

It was great fun. I lived above a pub, I scored a few runs and I worked hard. After a few weeks, I had trials with Warwickshire and Nottinghamshire and Clive Rice, who was the director of cricket at Trent Bridge at the time, offered me a three-year deal.

I had some encouragement before then. Just before Christmas 1999, I had come in at No. 9 for KwaZulu-Natal and smacked an unbeaten 60 and took four wickets (including Michael Atherton, Michael Vaughan and Nasser Hussain) against the touring England side. Nasser, the England captain at the time, was impressed and, when I told him I had a UK passport, wanted me to come and play club cricket for Ilford CC in Essex.

There were some setbacks. After a really good first season in county cricket, I came back at the start of the following year, 2002, and couldn't get a run in the Championship. After five or six games I was dropped.

That's a horrible feeling. But instead of feeling sorry for myself, I redoubled my efforts and worked harder than ever. I tried to learn from my mistakes and ensure that, when the opportunity came again, I would be in a better position to take it. I rectified the technical failures and made sure I used the experience to improve as a player. I was recalled to the first team and scored four centuries in 10 days; three of them career-best scores.

Each success helped me grow in confidence. Once you have done something once, you know you can do it again and, knowing I had made it through some challenging times, gave me the strength to know I could find a solution to other problems as they arose. But it all started with that decision - that brave, reckless, stupid decision - to leave South Africa as a 19-year-old.

That's the message I've trying to get across to the kids on my Sprite 24/7 cricket camp in Dubai. I want them to understand how hard they will have to work if they are going to enjoy success in this game. I want them to understand that, when life offers an opportunity, you have to take it. And I want them to understand that all that work can be great fun.

It's been inspiring for me to see these kids embrace the opportunity they have here. Quite a few of them have never travelled before so this experience - the air travel, the brilliant facilities, the high level of coaching and access to information - has come as quite a shock. But you can see them relishing it and the coaches - Nic Pothas, David Balcombe and Dom Telo - have spotted some outstanding talent here. We'll be looking to provide scholarships to the outstanding young players to help them pursue their cricketing aspirations.

Of course they won't all go on to be professional cricketers. But a few might and many more will go back to their communities and share their experiences with another generation of young players.

That is why we have ensured that each one of these young players will go back to their communities with an ICC Level 1 coaching certificate. Amid the games and the skills training, they have also had enough classroom time to undergo what we are calling the KP Sports Leaders Course.

This means that, when they go home, they will be in a position to coach the kids in their communities. That way we hope to spread the messages we are imparting here far beyond the 80 or so kids. We hope that each of them will make a difference in their club, or town, or village and that kids who might not otherwise have had an opportunity to progress will have a greater chance.

This game has given me so much. If I can help a few of these kids realise their ambitions, I'd be thrilled.