"Am I starting to feel old now, because I'm about to play my 100th Test?" Makhaya Ntini repeats the question with a chuckle.
"I'll tell you one thing," he eventually responds. "I've got the body of an 18-year-old. This body will carry me for the next 10 years of my cricket career."
If that is to be the case Ntini will be 42 by the time he stops playing the game that took him from poverty to the hallowed hallways of Lord's, the Melbourne Cricket Ground and Newlands. But who has the right to doubt him? For his has truly been a remarkable life, of which the 99 Tests played over 11 years have only been a small part.
Tales of keeping his feet warm with cow dung, herding cows and horses around the hills around Mdingi - the Ntini story is a well-known and still remarkable one.
In essence it's very much a feel-good tale of what used to be called 'the new South Africa'. Hard work, dedication and an endearing, ceaseless will to succeed have driven Ntini not only to become one of the best this country has ever seen but also one of the world's best fast bowlers.
So many have influenced his career, from Greg Hayes, the Border coach responsible for that region's development who "discovered" him, to his first international captain Hansie Cronje, to the current coaching staff, most notably Vincent Barnes, the national team's bowling coach.
Ntini's international career is a staggering one, even leaving aside the journey he's taken to the highest level of the sport. It stands up to scrutiny next to some of the great fast bowlers the game has known.
It's scarcely believable, even now, to hear him talk about how his first pair of cricket boots were held together with wire and bits of string that would fall off each time he bowled a ball while the tongue would flip around as he ran into to bowl.
It was a visit to a sports store in Queenstown, accompanied by Hayes, that turned around Ntini's mindset as a youngster.
"He bought me a pair of Patrick cricket boots, the flat ones. Man, after that I was flying - I was a new man.
"You must remember that when I went to these training clinics we never had kit, that killed us, we never had bats, or pads. You look at the guys you're playing against and they've got a new bat, a nice new pair of pads and you doubt yourself.
"They look like they know what they're here for, we just went to learn and have fun. Every time I'd look at my new shoes, with the new studs, everything is tightened up and I was ready to roll.
"I was flying at those trials. I could turn to the guy next to me and say now we are competing. I was killing everybody. After that I never doubted myself."
Ntini's inclusion in the national side in 1998, which some thought was rushed in an attempt by South Africa's cricket authorities to appease politicians, required him to practise patience. Ahead of him amongst the bowlers at that time were Allan Donald, Lance Klusener and Brian McMillan.
"Hansie Cronje told me when I first got into the team, 'Listen, you're on a learning curve, these guys that are bowling now, you won't get in ahead of them. But what you must do is stay focused, stay fit and wait for your chance.'
"And that was the only thing going through my head."
Once established, Ntini became a vital cog in the national side. Like Kepler Wessels and Cronje did with Donald, so Graeme Smith, especially when he first took over as captain, bowled Ntini relentlessly.
He was the main man in an attack that for the most part was made up of medium-fast bowlers.
That he has gotten to the 100-Test landmark is staggering given the workload he had to carry after the retirement of Donald and until the emergence of Dale Steyn.
"Not many fast bowlers have passed 100 Tests, I'm very proud about that."
Achieving a milestone such as that, especially one that celebrates longevity in the game, has required Ntini to turn his thoughts to what to do once he hangs up his whites.
"When you go past the age of 30 people start to doubt you. Life after cricket? There are so many things I want to do. My plan after my career finishes is to bring the game back to my community.
"I'm arranging to build an academy that is top of the range with a gymnasium and computers, these are things we never had when I was growing up. I want to be there full time, teaching them life skills, along with the knowledge they would need for cricket."
While he has been an inspiration to others, he takes his inspiration from those behind the scene. His wife, Thandeka, and his two young children, have been crucial to his success on the cricket fields around the world.
"I'm so proud of my family because of their understanding of the sport that I play. They never moan. They never ask where I'm going or when I'm coming back, because they know daddy's going to work. They help me pack my bags, they make sure I've got everything together.
"My wife will tell me 'please make sure you've got everything, because while you're over there we don't want to post stuff that you've forgotten'. That's my main support, I'm so proud to have those people around me."
They'll most certainly be in attendance at Centurion on Wednesday when Ntini becomes just the fifth South African cricketer to play 100 Tests.
"As a black cricketer, you realise when you play something like your 100th Test... it brings back all those feelings, because you never thought you could achieve something like that in a white-dominated sport.
"I hope it gives a lot of inspiration to the young guys, because if they think that this guy can make it this far, then maybe they can too."