THE Hampshire cricket League will vote on whether to ban overseas players at its AGM tonight.

The proposal has been made by Flamingo and has been seconded by Fareham & Crofton - both clubs both say the influx of overseas players takes away the enjoyment for others. A decision will be made on whether to ban overseas players for the 2005 season at The Rose Bowl tonight (7.30pm).

A Flamingo spokesman said: "Players are bringing in players from overseas with the prime intention of winning promotion.

"These players almost inevitably play far below their normal standard and dominate matches.

"Last year a middle-aged, recreational cricketer who plays for Redlynch & Hale suffered facial injuries when he was felled by a beamer from Australian Laurence Begni, an A-Grade Queensland bowler, who took 26 wickets to help Tichborne Park win promotion into the Southern League.

"And one County 3 club even assisted with an air fare for an Australian to come across and play for them last summer!

"We were relegated from the Southern League at the end of 2003. It would have been easy for us to have got an A-Grade player from Perth to get us promoted but, instead, we spent £8,000 on an artificial pitch and relayed the bulk of our square.

"Perhaps monies set aside for flying players in from the Southern Hemisphere could be put towards ground improvements."

But Locks Heath captain Scott Jones reckons overseas players have a positive impact on the Hampshire League, providing they are not TOO good.

Locks Heath had Brett Whittingham, a Victoria sub-district player, score 674 runs for them last year.

Jones said: "There is only a problem because some clubs get players who are too good for the standard they are playing in.

"We make sure that our players strengthen our team without stopping the enjoyment for others, and it's a case of some clubs spoiling it for everyone else.

"Brett was our first overseas player when he came over as an 18-year-old five years ago. We offered him a place to stay and a job to come back to for a second season last year and he's been excellent for our young players.

"We've got a very young team and they've grown in confidence by playing with him. One even went back to play for Brett's club in Australia last year, so it's a bit inward-looking just to ban overseas players.

"A few years ago, Lyndon Strong came over to play for us from Australia, stayed in England with his family and now he's club treasurer and coach!

"He qualifies as a non-overseas player now but brings an awful lot to the club.

"I appreciate it would be difficult to judge whether an overseas player is or isn't too good, but an outright ban is over the top.

"It's inevitable they will be banned, if not this year then in 2006, but the argument won't go away.

"We'll just get motions in place to bring overseas players back."