Seth Rance has never got his kicks out of riding on others coat tails in life because, frankly, it is tantamount to cheap thrills and not the best elixir if one wishes to sleep soundly every night when planting one's head on the feathered-down pillow of accomplishments.
Rance is the kind of bloke who isn't shy to take a challenge by the scruff of its neck to shake the beejesus out of anyone or anything obstructing him from paving his path on the road to accomplishments.
That is not to say the Central Districts cricketer isn't man enough to salute those who have recognised and endorsed his drive to be himself every time he has quietly measured his run up to incrementally break into the durable Black Caps mould last week.
"Absolutely. My performances in the past three seasons have justified my selection," says the unpretentious 29-year-old from Wairarapa who received a call from national co-selector Gavin Larsen last Thursday to advise him to prepare for the tri-series involving Bangladesh in Ireland next month as part of a 15-man squad before the Champions trophy in England in June.
"You're always wanting to play top cricket growing up looking at New Zealand players and wishing one day you could become one of them so to make the side is extremely exciting," says Rance who last summer was the highest wicket taker in the McDonald's Super Smash Twenty20 domestic competition and for the past two summers in the one-day Ford Trophy 50-over format.
Rattle the abacus all you want to juxtapose other "unlucky" ones of his breed but there's no arguing with the figures of a hybrid new-ball seamer who has terrorised the best in white-ball domestic cricket with his procrastinating inswingers and closed matches with a scuffed ball.
No doubt it is immensely humbling to be picked to represent one's country, especially for a cricketer who must have put himself in the witness box under self-cross examination to torment himself on the possibility of finishing a sparkling career as a journeyman.
"I'll give it my all and do proud to everyone who has supported me," declares Rance on a cocktail of honesty and transparency in a fickle sport where opportunities can evaporate purely on inclement weather, someone's perception of how the wicket will play or devastating injury.
Rance knows all about that. Having made his red-ball Plunket Shield debut in 2009, the former Wairarapa College pupil endured two summers of debilitating shoulder and ankle injuries that put him out of reckoning in the domestic arena.
Unperturbed he went knocking on the backdoor of major association Wellington on the platform of Johnsonville Cricket Club but the Firebirds proved elusive.
He returned to the Stags' fold determined to carve a niche. On the journey he duly noted texts of disappointment but also opted out of throwing his hat into the lucrative IPL T20 in India earlier this year although he has his sights on the Caribbean equivalent later this year.
As far as he's concerned the impending trip to Ireland is godsend to push his envelope if recognition is the prerequisite to greener pastures.
"I couldn't have asked for a better debut, really, playing in a country where the ball swings at the start of May so that's the ideal stuff and it's worked out perfectly."
On Monday next week Rance jets off with wife Suzannah and their 20-month-old son, Lachie, to again ply his trade in England for Furness Cricket Club, as he did in the North Lancaster League last winter.
He will join the Black Caps squad on May 7.
"I'll manage to get three games under my belt in English conditions so that'll put me in good stead as well, being able to play what everyone else does."
Despite three summers of consistency coming down to an appraisal of sorts at a tri-series, the enormity of shining the white ball in a global context, with Black Caps front liners away at the IPL, isn't lost on him.
"This is huge. I'm lucky enough to get an opportunity to prove myself, if I get a chance in the starting XI.
"If I do then I'll play a couple of games to push my chances for selection later on in the next couple of years."
Like other challenges, Rance relishes the window of opportunity to find a more permanent foothold among his fellow international ambassadors.
His legion of fans in Greytown have bombarded him with messages of support.
"I have a good party of people who are buying tickets to go over to watch me so I'm very grateful for all the support I've had."
The seamer is indebted to Stags coach Heinrich Malan for granting him the rite of passage to be, first and foremost, himself in a bid to turn his apprenticeship into an art form with unequivocal freedom once at the crease.
"Him allowing us to do that has given me the chance to put my hand up and I have managed to be selected so he takes a lot of credit for the way he's coached us, especially this season to allow us to represent our country," says the man who opened batting and kept wickets as a teenager before stumbling on his bowling prowess in the backyard.