County Kerry Cricket Club once showed the way in adopting foreign imports to telling effect. The club took off in the late 1980s, winning the Munster Minor Cup its first year out in 1989, and going on to net two Munster Senior Shields and one Junior Cup in the early 1990s.

Visiting cricketers - primarily New Zealanders and Australians who lived in Tralee during the early 1990s - contributed handsomely to the success.

The club has not hit such heights since, though it continues to play and host visiting teams. (On Saturday it hosts English side White City All Stars).

Losing its rented ground to development means the club now plays out of Tralee Rugby Club grounds where it meets on Saturdays and Sundays.

There is a strong love of cricket and desire to promote the game among the members who range in age from 15 to 61, says Gordon Revington, club secretary and founder member.

Local schools get starter sets and there is a coaching session on Saturday mornings.

Other clubs in Kerry have fallen by the way, including Listowel and Killarney, where recent attempts to re-start cricket with mainly Malaysian immigrant workers have so far not materialised.

Club chairman Dave Ramsay puts this down largely to the difficulty staff in the service industry have in trying to get time off. "Cricket does tend to go on the whole day," he notes.

But the Kerry club is not doing too badly, right now. It is in the middle of divisions two and three in terms of cups. And there is a strong social side to the game, Ramsay says.

"This is guaranteed to keep the interest."

He adds: "Cricket players are by their nature somewhat eccentric. It tends to be played in a pleasant gentlemanly way - and you have nice, nasty fights in a cup match, with a good fun element afterwards."