October 12, 2007: Somerset County Cricket Club has announced that Anguilla and West Indies all-rounder Omari Banks has signed a two year contract with them beginning in the 2008 season.

As an Anguillian holder of a British Passport, Banks will be eligible to play as a domestic player (Kolpak ruling) for the UK County side.

Currently age 25, Banks has played a total of 10 Tests and 5 ODIs for the West Indies starting in 2003. In only his second Test in Antigua, he scored 47 not out from No. 8 as West Indies chased a world-record 418 to beat Australia.

Since 2005, the tall right handed player, has been out of favor with the selectors, however he has continued to build his game. He recently completed an impressive Leeward Islands Cricket Association (LICA) competition as a key component of a victorious Anguilla team.

According to statistics provided by Mr. Livingston  Clifton, Omari Banks finished the 2007 LICA  competition with a massive 519 runs from 9 innings and a strike rate of 69.47. His highest score was 125, with 2 additional centuries and an equal number of innings over 50.

With the ball, Banks bowled  151 overs at an economy rate of 2.99 while capturing 41 wickets. In his last match against Nevis he pulverized their batting line-up, bagging 8 for 28 from 12.4 overs.

An outline of his professional statistics are available online at usa.cricinfo.com

Brian Rose, Somerset's director of cricket said "Omari is a great signing and will give us strength in depth in key positions in our squad,...".

Rose added: "He will be a huge asset to us and will be very dangerous in one-day cricket and the Twenty20 Cup."