HEAD coach of the Jamaica Tallawahs, Mark O’Donnell, has high expectations of his assistant coach Ramnaresh Sarwan.

The 38-year-old former Guyana Amazon Warriors and Windies batsman was appointed assistant coach earlier this year just prior to the CPL draft. He comes into the job with tons of experience.

He captained the Guyana Amazon Warriors in 2014 after serving the Windies with aplomb over a 13-year career in which he played 87 Tests and scored 15 centuries. He also scored five tons and 38 half-centuries in 181 ODIs.

O’Donnell expects these attributes will be key to the success of the Jamaican CPL franchise. “Huge! Massive experience, I want the players to draw on that, really much from a mentoring point of view, with the young West Indian players,” the New Zealander told SportsMax.TV on Wednesday as the Tallawahs prepared for their one-week camp at Sabina Park.

In fact, O’Donnell said, Sarwan’s importance is already being felt within the Tallawahs set-up.

“Having said that, the young man played three years ago and he was in Trinidad not that long ago, so it is very important that the guys, who have played in the modern era and played in and around the T20 setting, offer a lot.

“He has been brilliant in the two days we have already had it’s been a lot of very, very good casual, useful discussions in and around that and that’s the right way to do it.”