THE Hobart Hurricanes have attracted another big name with West Indian superstar Darren Sammy announced yesterday as the second international contracted player for BBL|04.
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Sammy signed a two-year deal with Hobart and said he was excited to be pulling on the purple for the Hurricanes.
The 30-year-old will play the first six matches before attending a training camp with the West Indies ahead of the 2015 ICC World Cup to be held in Australia and New Zealand.
``With players like George Bailey, Alex Hales and Ben Dunk, there is a lot of exciting talent in the team already,'' Sammy said.
``I am really looking forward to coming to Tasmania and taking part in the Big Bash League.
``A few of my [West Indian] teammates might also be playing in the Big Bash League so I'm looking forward to the contest with them.''
The 200-centimetre bowling all-rounder has visited Hobart once before, playing a T20 International for the West Indies against Australia in 2010.
Sammy said a former Hurricane and now Glamorgan teammate has been giving him some advice about Hobart.
``I was told by Michael Hogan that Tasmania is a little bit chilly but I'm hoping to bring my warm Caribbean spirit down to fix that.''
Hurricanes coach Damien Wright said Sammy was a fantastic player and bloke to have in the Hobart line-up.
``He's a really talented cricketer who can do a little bit of everything,'' Wright said.
``He's a great leader as well and he's been captain of the West Indies for a number of years now also captaining the team for the T20 World Cup in 2012.
``Sammy will give us that lower-order hitting too, which is something we didn't quite have last season.''
The announcement follows the signing of one of the world's best T20 batsmen in Alex Hales last month, giving the Hurricanes arguably the strongest BBL team on paper going into their fourth campaign.
``We are very lucky to have these two guys who have committed to us and want to come down to our island which is brilliant,'' Wright said.
The Hurricanes are still yet to finalise the remaining five domestic contracts for BBL|04.
HOBART HURRICANES SIGNINGS: George Bailey, Travis Birt, Cameron Boyce, Xavier Doherty, Ben Dunk, Evan Gulbis, Alex Hales, Ben Hilfenhaus, Joe Mennie, Tim Paine, Sam Rainbird, Darren Sammy, Jon Wells.