MARLON Samuels, Danza Hyatt, Andre Russell, Krishmar Santokie and skipper David Bernard Jr are central to galvanising Jamaica to the top of the Caribbean Twenty20 in 2012.

The competition gets underway today, with Jamaica taking on the Combined Campuses and Colleges tomorrow, Sussex on Thursday, and Barbados on Saturday at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in North Sound, Antigua. Jamaica will also play The Netherlands next week Friday at the Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados.

Samuels, 31, and Hyatt, 28, enjoy the best batting average for Jamaica in this format of the game with 42.63 and 33.50 runs, respectively, both from 16 matches. They also boast the highest score in an innings for Jamaica, with Hyatt on top with 89 and Samuels 80 not out.

Hard-core batting from the duo, often batting at number three and number four, will ensure that Jamaica better their third-placed finish at last season’s competition.

Twenty-three-year-old Russell, meanwhile, will have the opportunity to prove his all-round credentials and substantially improve his career averages in Twenty20.

He will likely still bat at number five, raring to go for his first half-century and third not out. Clearly, averages of 13.50 from 10 innings with the bat and 52.33 from 13 matches (210 balls) are below par for a player of the calibre of Russell, who also has the best scoring rate of 150 per cent, eclipsing wicketkeeper Baugh, 137.81, and Hyatt, 135.35.

Bernard, 30, should come in at number six where, it is hoped, very little batting would be required of him in the first week, but much of his right-arm medium-fast bowling in that period.

With 13 wickets from 14 matches (251 balls), Bernard has one of best strike rates in the Jamaican team after Santokie 10.3, Odean Brown 15.2 (nine matches), and Samuels 18.4. Bernard’s strike rate is 19.3 with best bowling figures of 3-13.

Twenty-seven-year-old Santokie, a left-arm medium pacer, has been Jamaica’s most outstanding bowler in Twenty20. Apart from having the best strike rate, he has taken the most wickets. From 12 matches he has taken 24 wickets at an average of 9.37 in 41.2 overs.

As stated above, Bernard has 13 wickets, ahead of Brown with 11 wickets, with Nikita Miller and Russell on six career wickets each.

This Jamaica team does have the ammunition to score more than 200 runs in an innings, more than one batsman capable of hitting a century and the skill to win. Will it happen? We’ll know in the next two weeks!