Omari Banks signs for Somerset

The former West Indies offspinner Omari Banks has joined Somerset as a Kolpak player for the 2008 season.

Banks, 25, played 10 Tests and five ODIs for West Indies between May 2003 and August 2005, but has since failed to break into the international set-up.

His finest hour came at Antigua in 2003, in only his second Test, when he scored 47 not out from No. 8 as West Indies chased a world-record 418 to beat Australia.

"Omari is a great signing and will give us strength in depth in key positions in our squad," said Somerset's director of cricket, Brian Rose. "He will be a huge asset to us and will be very dangerous in one-day cricket and the Twenty20 Cup."

Banks does not count as an overseas player as he was born in Anguilla, a British protectorate. He spent two months in the Leicestershire second team, with a solitary senior appearance against Pakistan.