Henry Olonga speaks the Queen's English better than many of the current England cricket team, comes from a well-to-do family, is well educated and travelled the world at an early age.
He could probably fit in nicely in the Lords longroom among the cricketing purists with the bacon and egg ties, sipping on their gin and tonics.
Yet the Zimbabwean fast bowler is probably one of those players who most symbolise the changing face of modern cricket and makes no bones about it.
Born in Zambia to a paediatrician father and nursing sister mother, Olonga moved to Kenya when he was two and two years later moved to Zimbabwe, where he has spent most of his formative years.
Interestingly enough he could easily have followed a singing career and was even offered a scholarship at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, but he chose a professional cricketing career instead and has become a key strike bowler for the Zimbabweans.
Although the triangular one-day-series between Zimbabwe, England and South Africa ultimately ended in bitter disappointment for them, the Zimbabweans have emerged from the tournament with heads well and truly held high after a dramatic last-ball win against their Southern African neighbours and a thumping of the English.
There have been a number of good performances from the boys north of the Limpopo, but the one which stands out most is Olonga's sensational six wickets for 19 runs which obliterated the English at Newlands.
Much has been made of Olonga's unusual, in cricketing terms at least, dreadlocked hairstyle - with one English journalist saying it seemed as if there was a live tarantula on his head when he came in to bowl.
Olonga explained that his hairdo did not symbolise anything, but was merely his way of expressing himself.
"There is no significance at all really, its just me. I wanted a hairstyle which makes me unique. There is no religious connotation, it is just a hairstyle. It does not mean I am a rastafarian or smoke dagga," said the man who is in fact a born-again Christian who wants one day to become a minister.
Recently unsavoury events have become more and more prevalent in cricket, with players regularly being banned and Olonga certainly has strong views about the direction in which the game is moving.
"The perception is that cricket players are gentlemen, which I think is rubbish. The modern cricket player is as human as anyone else. Players in the 60s and 70s were prim and proper and conformed to all the old traditions of the game, but I think that's dying. The more global the sport becomes the more you can retain your personality. I am not a rebel, I am just saying that I can come with my flair and my own persona and still fit into cricket. For the game to thrive there have to be changes. You have to be willing to adjust and read your market like any business. What worked 10 years ago may not now," Olonga said.
He also feels the game's supporters have changed and cricket needs to change with them and give them what they want.
"The old traditionalists went to the cricket ground with their scorebooks and knew all the greats from the beginning of the 1900s. That is not your cricket fan now. Its a patriot with an eight to five job who understands life and stress and when they go to a cricket match they go to see their country win. They do not place as much emphasis as the purists would on technique and cricket etiquette," Olonga says.
So too he feels the players have changed. "There is no question now that a lot of the tradition and unwritten rules have died away. I am not saying cricketers should not be gentlemen, but by and large its not the case."
Until the English match at Newlands, Olonga has not quite set the cricketing scene alight and was a bit wild and inaccurate at the start of his career, but he says he has been pleased with his own form of late and says Bob Woolmer's visit to Zimbabwe at the beginning of the season after they played South Africa in a Test series had helped him tremendously.
"He emphasised a few things that I have picked up on and I think I have been bowling better than previously in my career. I have shortened my run up and am not bowling as fast as I can, but I have now got a bit more control. I do not think I have conceded more than 10 extras in the one-day tournament, which for me is good and I have been taking wickets since the beginning of the season," Olonga said.
He feels Heath Streak's injury in the early part of the season has brought him to the fore as he was called upon to carry the attack which was a good personal growth for him.
While he felt the present one-day series was good for Zimbabwean cricket generally, he still reckoned they needed to improve on many aspects of their game.
"Its been a good series in that a lot of people who thought we were just flash-in-the-pan performers could see that we can be quite competitive as the contests have been evenly fought. There are still areas in our game which could improve. Our middle order has been a problem. We are taking wickets, having good starts, but then conceding too many extras and losing our way in the middle. It appears that once Neil Johnson gets out the innings falls apart. We need a bit more stability," Olonga said.
He has no regrets over his choice of cricket over music, but is still intent on a musical career even before his top-class cricket career is over. But for now he is happy hearing the sweet sound of a hard leather ball thumping into wooden wickets.