SOUTH African professional Duanne Olivier admits the opportunity to chance his arm on England's cricket greens was too big an opportunity to turn down.

Olivier, a 22-year-old pace bowler from Free State Knights in Bloemfontein, will spearhead Kendal's bowling attack next season after he signed on the dotted line for the Shap Road club before Christmas.

And this week, he spoke of his determination to arrive in Cumbria with a bang.

"I believe that I can be a great teammate to my fellow cricketers," said Olivier, a teammate of former Kendal sub-pro Werner Coetsee. "That is the success of a good team after all. There were other agents that contacted me to play but when my agent said there was an opportunity to play in England, I couldn't turn it down."

Olivier was born Groblersdal, a small town in Mpumalanga, before moving to Pretoria. He then moved south to Bloemfontein to study and play cricket, which is where he currently lives.

"I have always been involved in sport, doing athletics as well as rugby but my passion lied in cricket," said Olivier, who hit the winning runs for South Africa u19s against England in a 2009 one day international match at Taunton. "My interest in cricket began when I was in school. I was 15-years-old and my coach at school said that I would be good at it so I started and never looked back."

Quizzed about his style of play, Olivier, who has taken 107 first class wickets in 34 matches as well as hitting an average of 18.53, replied: "I like to play shots and take opportunities when batting and when bowling I always aim to hit my areas at a specific pace. I can't wait to be a part of a new team because I look forward to meeting new people."

Kendal's new captain Chris Miller, who has taken over from Stu Parkin so he can focus on his flooring business and newborn boy, is excited at the prospect of linking up with the South Africa seamer.

"We looked at the model Blackpool had last year with Christi Viljoen who took about 100 wickets," said Miller. "We have had the best batsmen for three out of the last four seasons with Jamie How but didn't think that model of professional was going to win us the league.

"There's a famous saying that batters set up matches but bowlers win them so that is what we hope we have got in Duanne.

"I spoke to a couple of my friends in South Africa and had really positive reviews about him so when we were offered him we snapped the agents' hands off."

Miller, who hopes to have Olivier available for a pre-season friendly against Padiham at Shap Road on April 11 - before the Northern Cricket league season kicks off against Lancaster the week after, added: "He bowls at a decent pace but looking at his stats is also a more than capable batter."