Bridgetown (Barbados), Jun 24 (IANS/CMC): Guyana Amazon Warriors head coach Roger Harper expects Jamaican seamer Krishmar Santokie to play a key role in the upcoming Caribbean Premier League which bowls off next month.
Left-armer Santokie has emerged as one of the more exciting bowlers in the region in the game's shortest form, and Harper said it was important that Amazon Warriors retained the player from last year, reports CMC.
"Krishmar Santokie is a hugely valuable asset to my team. He is an intelligent and determined player and I am very happy to have retained him," Harper said.
"He deserves all the success he is reaping and it's great that he is now in the West Indies T20 Team."
Santokie, 29, has taken 17 wickets in ten Twenty20 Internationals, and was at the forefront of the West Indies attack at the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh earlier this year.
He subsequently turned out for Mumbai Indians in the lucrative Indian Premier League.
Santokie will line up along the likes of Pakistani Mohammed Hafeez and the New Zealand pair of Martin Guptill and Corey Anderson, and will form a formidable force for the July 11 to August 17 championship.
Harper, who was also in-charge of the Georgetown-based franchise last year, believes the big-hitting Anderson will also be a key player in this year's campaign.
"We have seven Guyanese players in our team, in addition to a few new players like Anderson, who is making his name on the international cricket stage, and Navin Stewart from Trinidad and Tobago who is a solid all-rounder," the former West Indies coach said.
"James Franklin (New Zealand) delivered the x-factor last season and I am very disappointed not to have him back. I do, however, believe that we have a squad capable of giving any team a hard time."
Guyana had mixed success in the inaugural tournament last year, playing outstandingly to reach the final but then going down to eventual champions Jamaica Tallawahs.
Harper said the Warriors would be looking to do even better this year.
"I am truly delighted to be back again. Last season I would say was a success for us, we topped the group stages and then finished second, so now we see the areas we need to work on in order to improve," he pointed out.
Guyana Amazon Warriors will raise the curtain on the tournament when they face Antigua Hawksbills at the National Stadium in Grenada.