BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC:

West Indies batting legend Desmond Haynes has backed this year's Caribbean Premier League to be one of the best ever.

The 59-year-old, who serves as ambassador for the Barbados Tridents, said with the quality of overseas players and the well-balanced nature of the six franchises, the June 20 to July 26 tournament could prove to be the standout edition.

"I believe this could be the best Limacol CPL because looking at the teams I find that the teams are well balanced and all the teams are very competitive," Haynes said.

South Africa's Jacques Kallis heads the list of overseas stars coming for the third edition of the CPL, with Sri Lanka's Mahela Jayawardene and Lasith Malinga, England's Kevin Pietersen and Pakistan's Shahid Afridi also set to feature.

Despite the influx of stars, Haynes says he did not expect any one team to dominate the tournament.

"All the teams are very competitive. You may look at one or two teams that do have some big names, but a lot of the teams have good units and play together," he pointed out.

"Take the Tridents for example, if it is one thing you can say about us is that we always play together.

"Polly (Kieron Pollard) has an influence on the team which makes everybody happy to be around him and we've got the senior players that don't matter what you ask of them, these guys are willing to do it for the team."

Barbados Tridents are the defending champions after beating Guyana Amazon Warriors in a highly charged final in St Kitts last August.