Brendan Nash...member of Jamaica's 14-man KFC squad.

KINGSTON, Jamaica (CMC)

Australia-born batsman Brendan Nash says he is already prepared to deal with the high expectations for him to perform, when he turns out for Jamaica in the KFC Cup in Guyana next week.

Nash, whose father represented Jamaica at the Olympics and Commonwealth Games as a swimmer, was included in the Jamaica squad after impressing at national trials.

The 29-year-old has played all of his cricket to date in Australia's domestic competition where he represented Queensland, but was not offered a contract for the new season.

Mood

"It was part of the mood that I made. I knew that was going to happen, the added pressure [to perform]," Nash said.

"It is something that I'm quite used to, coming from where I have. You are always under pressure, always trying to work yourself into a team so it's not that new to me. But it's something I expected as well."

The left-hander scored 310 runs in trials with a highest score of 66 and will join a formidable batting line-up that already includes West Indies opener Chris Gayle.

Nash, who represented the Kingston Cricket Club in one domestic match this season, also bowls tidy medium pace and will prove useful in the one-day format of the game.

Since making his debut in the 2000/01 season, Nash has stroked three first-class centuries.

Jamaica will open their KFC Cup campaign against the Leeward Islands on Wednesday and will also clash with the West Indies Under-19s before facing Barbados in their final match.