Ryan ten Doeschate said on Friday he holds no grudges against South African cricket and the fact that his career blossomed after the Netherlands international left his country of birth was ''pretty coincidental.''
The batsman will be the focus of some attention when he comes face to face with South Africa, and some good friends, when his Netherlands team plays the Proteas in a World Cup Group B match next Thursday.
But Ten Doeschate said there was no extra motivation for him to prove himself after he didn't make it as an international for South Africa.
''It'll just be another chance to play against a quality team and test ourselves against them,'' Ten Doeschate said, pushing the focus, instead, onto a Dutch team which nearly opened at the World Cup with a major upset victory over England.
Ten Doeschate said his personal situation was not the same as some of England's South African-born batsmen like Jonathan Trott and Kevin Pietersen, who were among the opposition when Ten Doeschate struck a fine century in Nagpur on Tuesday.
Trott and Pietersen both left South Africa for English county cricket saying their opportunities to play internationals had been hampered by their home country's policy at the time of fast-tracking black players into the national team.
Pietersen then had a turbulent start to his career with England when he was given a hostile reception in a series in South Africa.
Ten Doeschate, instead, says he's pretty good friends with Proteas captain Graeme Smith and batsmen Jacques Kallis and Hashim Amla.
On Friday Ten Doeschate, who made his breakthrough in first class cricket with Essex in England, and his debut for Netherlands in 2006, said he merely chose a different route and was not forced to move away.
''I left with no grudges and no ill feelings,'' he said, ''and the opportunity to play county cricket was pretty coincidental as opposed to going away and trying to make a career somewhere else. The way it has worked out, I'm pretty happy.''
Last year's player of the year for ICC Associate and Affiliate nations, Ten Doeschate qualified for Netherlands through Dutch ancestry but still spends about five months of the year in South Africa.
He said he plays a little offseason club cricket in Cape Town, where the beaches are ''pretty good.''
