If Jacques Kallis felt crushed by the weight of Sydney's western suburbs on his broad shoulders, the South African – who rivals Garfield Sobers as cricket's greatest all-rounder –showed no sign of strain when quizzed about Sydney Thunders' unwelcome reputation as the Big Bash League's perennial under-achievers.
The 39-year-old's decision to sign with the Thunder – who represent the city's west – was accompanied by the expectation he would make an impact and help change the fortunes of a Twenty20 franchise that had endured the ignominy of finishing last in the popular tournament's first three seasons.
As someone who had used the funds raised during his benefit year with Western Province in 2005 to create the Jacques Kallis Foundation, an organisation that helps children from disadvantaged backgrounds attend private schools around his country, the veteran of 166 Tests considered it his duty to pass on insights that could help speed up the learning process for younger Thunder players.
"The pressure at the Sydney Thunder will be no different to the pressure I've felt throughout my career, and I dealt with that pretty decently," he said before Sunday's season-opener against the Brisbane Heat at Stadium Australia.
"I've always said I played this game because I enjoyed it, loved it and had fun. Hopefully I can have a good season and help the Thunder and I'll use a lot of what I've picked up over the last 20 years and pass that onto the younger players.
"I'm a big believer in practising hard and playing hard, but I also think playing cricket is having fun and enjoying yourself."
Kallis was regarded by his Proteas teammates as the ultimate team man, and while that was how he would always wanted to be remembered, he said "team first" was a message he would help the likes of skipper Michael Hussey to instil in the Thunders' emerging talent, which includes Jake Doran, Daniel Hughes, Gurinder Sandhu, Ahillen Beadle, Chris Green, Kurtis Patterson, Hameed Kherkhah and spinner Jonte Pattison, whose five-wicket haul in Friday's inter-team trial match at Bankstown Oval included Kallis' prized scalp.
"In a nutshell, it is summing up the situation of the game and trying to play best according to that," he said. "Sometimes it's putting in the hard yards and grafting when you'd like to be playing a few more shots or having to slog the ball out of the park to get quick runs and sacrifice your wicket.
"I was never one who played for stats. It boiled down to winning games. I do look back with a lot of pride over my career and was fortunate enough to achieve a lot of things... it was an exciting journey and hopefully a few more exciting ones to come [with the Thunder]."
Kallis, who hails from Cape Town, said it was very important to emphasise to young cricketers the importance of fun, friendship and technique.
While his record, which included 13,289 Test runs, 292 wickets and 200 catches, ensured he will forever be mentioned alongside cricket's greatest players, he gauges his career these days by telephone calls.
"I played the game hard but I never crossed boundaries," he said. "I wanted to be able to phone any guy I played against if ever I was in their country and they'd be happy to go out for a beer with me.
"I thought if they did that, then I'd played the game in the right spirit. I think I've done that, respected the game, played it hard but didn't cross boundaries."
As one of the few players who had successfully mastered cricket's three formats – Tests, one-dayers and Twenty20 – Kallis said it was crucial that any young player who dreamt of playing at the highest level be taught traditional techniques.
"I was lucky enough to learn the basics up front as a youngster," he said. "I've always believed a baby crawls before it walks and I was a big believer in getting your technique right for Test cricket.
"If you play Test cricket, you can play all three formats. If you play T20 cricket, it doesn't mean you can play Test cricket. For me getting a good base in place was very important."
His decision to play for the Thunder wasn't restricted to helping mentor Australia's Generation Next; Kallis was as equally excited about joining forces with his old foe Hussey, a player who during his 79 Tests for Australia, displayed the kind of traits he admired.
Kallis described Hussey as someone the Thunder's young brigade would do well to watch and learn from.
"It'll be good to be in the same dressing room as him," he said. "We've had some good battles over the years, he's a world-class player and I'm looking forward to spending time with him.
"He's a match-winner who can turn a game and we're very fortunate to have him in the side because he's a fighter who never gives up; a hard competitor.
"I always liked that Michael Hussey didn't give an inch and he didn't take one. He fought for everything, he was the type of guy – judging by the way he played – that you'd expect to be an international cricketer."
