The foreign policy: Will overseas talent play a role in the future of Warrnambool cricket?

Dennington legend Terry Beks first met a young Sri Lankan named Sammy Kandage while plying his trade in England.

Kandage told Beks off-the-cuff he'd come play in Warrnambool. Little did they know it would start a revolution.

Kandage arrived on Australian shores in 1991, playing out the season and leaving, before returning again in 1995.

His jaunt to south-west Victoria paved the way for several other Sri Lankans and the floodgates opened.

Jayaweera Bandara came next. He moved to Dennington in 1993 after a first-class career with Colombo and time at Victorian districts club North Melbourne.

A switch to Russells Creek ensued and after a brief stint with Merrivale, he went on to notch two cricketer of the year awards. He scored more than 4500 runs in blue and white.

Tharanga Fernando, Visura Chinthaka, Shashan Silva, Daminda Ranaweera and Damith Dewage followed, solidifying Dennington's links with the sub-continent.

That changed last season. Dennington ended its long run of recruiting Sri Lankans and signed Chris Cheslin, a Coventry native, to spark a new era of English players at the club.

Cheslin's success meant Dennington went back to England - this time to the country's far north - for Cumbrian Henry Walker.

"I like the overseas players to come out here and have a bit of fun and enjoy themselves. My thinking is that the cricket will take care of itself," coach Dustin Drew said.

"If you're enjoying yourself, you perform better. If they come out and have these big expectations I don't think they go as well as they would like.

"Our competition is a bit different as well. There's not many players who dominate. You get your Nick Butters, Cam Williams and Ben Threlfall-type players but after that, cricket is so even here."

Drew lauded Bandara - who still co-coaches Russells Creek alongside Andrew Thomson - as "the best import Warrnambool has ever had".

"When he first came out here, he was just unbelievable," he said.

"He had played that first-class level in Sri Lanka. When he was here, he was brilliant batting but also fielding-wise at gully.

"I think we embraced him and you need to embrace these imports. You need to take them under your wing because a lot goes into it.

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"I've had some live with me, Foges (Jamie Fogarty) has had some live with him, and it's a big job because you have your own family as well.

"It's just good for cricket. It makes our competition stronger. They bring that, not x-factor, but bit of excitement to your club.

"I couldn't fault the last few fellas we've had here. They've given it 100 per cent."

Walker is held in high regard at Dennington. He was instrumental in the Dogs' upset Twenty20 grand final victory and Drew is keen to keep him at the club next season.

Walker, 19, has almost 200 runs and 16 wickets so far this season. His impact in the field - he's held 13 catches - has also been felt.

"We've sort of spoken about next season and whether he comes back will be up to him," he said.

"He's only 19 and he's getting some experience. He has some family in Australia which I think helps a bit.

"But yeah, it's up to him. If he decides to head home, I have some contacts back in the United Kingdom and we'll look at another player."

Things don't work out perfectly for every club.

Three English imports have already left the south-west mid-season and Walker is the sole survivor.

Allansford co-captain Luke Ryan said while the club's first overseas player - Kent-based batsman Finn Bryan - hadn't worked out, it wouldn't be deterred from signing an import in future.

"I don't think it'll be the end of it for us," he said.

"I think we'll do things a bit differently. Maybe we'll go for Skype or something, just so you get to know the person a bit instead of just going through email.

"I think we'll learn from it."

Ryan said Bryan was a hot talent but club and player hadn't clicked.

"He went back around Christmas time - it wasn't really working out. I think he was a bit homesick," Ryan said.

"It's disappointing really. He did really look the goods in the nets but had a bit of a bad run of form out in the middle.

"We were really after someone to fill that three or four spot and help out (former captain Chris Bant)."

Injury curtailed Wesley-CBC's Dan Jones. He returned to Wales after round one with a torn ACL.

Beavers co-captain Mitch Bowman said Jones, 24, had aspirations of returning to Australia.

"He needed to go home to get it treated," he said.

West Warrnambool's long-term Englishman Jack Sunderland, who was in his third season at Davidson Oval, sustained a serious back injury and flew out in October.

Sunderland - a former cricketer of the year - was the latest in a long line of talented English players at Davidson Oval.

Karl Turner, a Newcastle native who famously took the winning catch for England in a Test match, was a revelation.

He blasted 874 runs and snared 21 wickets in a dominant 2013-14 season.

While Turner took the lead for West Warrnambool, current captain-coach Alastair Templeton said imports should be "the cherry on top" of a good side rather than the sole contributor.

"They shouldn't be an absolute necessity in my opinion," he said.

"They should be adding to a good side, helping to develop juniors or filling the void at a club that might not have enough older, experienced heads.

"If they're a pillar for the side, it's too easy for an injury or visa troubles to interfere."

Templeton has watched several English imports arrive and depart at West - Andrew Scott and Jack Mills followed Turner - and said his club would deliberate before acquiring another.

"It depends," he said.

"I don't think we'd cast the net really to get a completely new player in. It'd be more someone who I know, or who Ben Threlfall might know, or even Charlie Blacker, who is going over in the winter.

"I don't think we'd go back to cold calling. I reckon I went through 180 applications before I found Jack (Sunderland).

"Most aren't up to what you need. It can be a bit of a needle in a haystack if you're doing it that way."

The fourth-year coach expected the overseas talent pool to become "more diluted" as interest in imports from Australian clubs gained momentum.

"I think clubs are going to have to dial back what they expect in the future. There used to be five clubs chasing a player, now it's more like 15," he said.

"Some clubs in Melbourne are throwing serious money at guys. I've heard of a couple going for something like $AUD15,000.

"Often there'll be cars and accommodation thrown in that too. I don't know if clubs around here would consider that.

"It'd be hard to justify the return on investment for that much. There's so many things you could do around your club infrastructure-wise with that. Gear and bowling machines aren't cheap."

Templeton described upside of a quality overseas player as "massive".

"If you get someone who fits in well off the field, it really adds something to your club," he said.

"On-field, you just want them to hold their own as a player."

Merrivale has seen both sides of the coin.

It lost Ben Compton - a South African-raised batsman studying in England - after just a few games in 2018.

His successor, Sam Clarkson, claimed 25 wickets and added 220 runs for the season.

Tigers co-coach Jeremy Burgess said the club, which this year has a list of Australian nationals, would consider an import for next season.

Burgess said Merrivale would speak to both its former English import Will Chapples and Clarkson in favour of an agent.

"We'll speak to Sam and scope out if there's anyone who'd like to come out," he said.

"We'll go from there if we decide we'd like to add one to our squad.

"We tend to look at the option through our pre-season. We start training and we sort of go on who we recruit locally.

"If we don't recruit any locals and feel we need an area of our side strengthened, we'll go for the overseas option.

"It's a balance. You don't want to turn your juniors away, but we look into it every year."

The South West Cricket Association has this year followed Warrnambool's lead and urged its clubs to consider overseas talent.

Its clubs are allowed two international players in their match-day squads, while Warrnambool and District Cricket Association rules permit just one.

Warrnambool cricket chairman Gordon McLeod felt the regulation struck the right balance.

"It's definitely working. We've put this to the clubs in the past and it's what they want. It's good for our cricket," he said.

"But we don't want to stop younger players getting the chance and that's probably why we allow one."

Many things have changed in south-west cricket since Sammy Kandage first arrived at Dennington oval in the early '90s. The fascination with import players - which he helped usher in - has not.

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