AYR last night moved to snap up two players from local rivals Prestwick in a bid to snuff out the threat of West Indies legends Alvin Kallicharan and Collis King.

The move came after the New Cambusdoon side discovered they would be lining up against the Windies greats in a British Cup clash on Sunday.

Club chief Ian Masterton explained: ''We thought little of it when we were drawn to play against a side called Dunnington near York, but when we did our homework we discovered that Kallicharan and King play for them. Our resources are already a bit stretched so we decided reinforcements would be sen-sible.''

Ayr were then given dispen-sation by the cricket authorities on both sides of the border to sign batsman Dom Rigby and seamer Martyn Hay from Prestwick. Masterton added: ''They have both had to pay #63 to become bona fide members of Ayr Cricket Club. It will work out to be an expensive game of cricket for them if we lose.

Rigby and Hay will remain registered as Prestwick players for Scottish league and cup matches.

Former Windies skipper Kallicharan scored 4399 runs during a glittering 66-Test career, while King earned a reputation as one of the hardest-hitting batsmen in the game during the eighties.